With new tap to pay systems becoming quite common today, it's incredibly easy for your card to get lost and a payment to be made, without your PIN. Mastercard hopes that by adding a fingerprint reader, using the card to make payments will be made safer.
While fingerprints aren't foolproof, Mastercard's chief of safety and security, Ajay Bhalla, said that it would help “to deliver additional convenience and security. It is not something that can be taken or replicated”. A scientist talking to the BBC said that fingerprint systems can be compromised, but the inclusion will put things in a better situation than they are right now.
The new cards will not require any new fingerprint readers in store, instead the cards are thought to contain both the digital template of the user's fingerprint and the sensor required to read their fingerprints at the point of sale. It's noteworthy to mention that the biometric verification can only be used for in-store purchases, but not for online or “card not present” transactions.
Mastercard aims to roll out the card worldwide by the end of the year, once available, your bank will inform you that the card is available, and if interested, you'll have to go to the bank to get your fingers scanned (up to two prints), after which the data will be then be stored on the card, ready to use.
Source: BBC News, Engadget | Fingerprint image via Shutterstock
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