Mastercard is testing a smartphone app that uses facial recognition to verify online purchases. This test is a part of the company’s grand vision to retreat from static passwords for online payments to biometric scans, voice recognition and a wristband which authenticates a cardholder through their unique cardiac rhythm. This setting can be considered as an alternative to SecureCode, its security software that asks online shoppers for a password to make purchases. With this new system in trials, users can hold their phone up having a MasterCard app, blink once and the app authenticates the identity of user through facial biometric.
The firm’s security expert Ajay Bhalla told CNN that young generation loves taking selfies and they would find this as a cool thing. But other security experts feel that facial recognition need to be complemented with extra layers of security. Google had earlier tried facial recognition for Android phones but faced lot of problems in the early days. It may lead to a situation where a person can take a photo of somebody and present it to the camera and can unlock the phone. The face-auth tech would take up a pilot study on 500 customers, and then would be rolled out for practice.
