MasterCard to allow customers authenticate online payments using selfies

MasterCard has launched a new mobile app that will allow customers to replace their passwords that authenticate their online purchases with selfies or fingerprints. The program will be rolled out by big banks in the US, Canada and the UK and some European countries over the next few months, says this report. In discussing the biometric authentication activities, President, Enterprise Safety and Security at MasterCard, Ajay Bhalla, noted, “We want to identify people for who they are, not what they remember." Bhalla adds that this technology makes more sense because people tend to forget their passwords or keep those that are easy to guess and hackers get through them very easily. “Customers who want to try selfie authentication will have to download a special MasterCard app that will allow them to take a photo each time they make an online purchase. Their face (or fingerprint) will be scanned to prove that they – not hackers or thieves – are making a purchase,” explains the CNN Money report. Also, users will be required to blink to prove that an actual photograph is being taken and it’s not some old one being held in front of the camera. MasterCard will be testing a range of authentication methods, such as facial identification, voice recognition and cardiac rhythm through a wearable wristband.