Mastercard is introducing a new app that allows users to make purchases while using fingerprint technology and by taking selfies. The app takes it a step further by making the user blink to prevent hackers from using a saved photo.
‘Selfie pay’ is an incredible security measure to prevent credit card information from becoming leaked or hacked into.
According to USA Today, “President of Enterprise Security Solutions at MasterCard Ajay Bhalla tells the website that selfies and fingerprints are safer to use than passwords, which can be hacked.”
This application will make life easier for millions of users who love to take selfies because it will allow them to access the camera yet again.
According to CNN Money, “”The new generation, which is into selfies … I think they’ll find it cool. They’ll embrace it,” said Ajay Bhalla.
“MasterCard will launch a small pilot program that uses fingerprints — but also facial scans. It’ll be a limited experiment involving 500 customers. But, once it works out all the kinks, MasterCard plans to launch it publicly sometime after that.”
The facial recognition feature will scan your face, and convert the information into numbers and transport that information through the internet to Mastercard servers.
CNN Money states, “Bhalla promised that MasterCard won’t be able to reconstruct your face — and that the information would transmit securely and remain safe on the company’s computer servers.”
This sounds like a good idea until hackers find a way to manipulate the program and find a way in through the kinks, or even worse, create an entrance to Mastercard internet servers.
The likelihood of this happening in its early development stages has yet to be determined, but until the app is expanded on a larger scale, (including hackers) we won’t know.
The idea of using the app simply because it is easier than remembering a password is a foolish idea, because taking care of one’s identity and private information should not be easy.
If it is easy for people to protect their personal information, then believe that it will be just as easy for hackers to access any of it.
The only real problem this application will have is to keep any private information linked to a person’s account or Mastercard servers is for the information to get into the wrong hands, but in its early stages, the app sounds like a fun test drive.
