MasterCard has unveiled a new credit card which is validated with the holder’s fingerprint and contains the sensor needed to read it. The company says the technology is more secure and “it’s not something that can be taken or replicated.”
Credit card companies say far too many people endanger their own security by using poor pin codes like 0000 or 1234. While a fingerprint can be copied, the process to get that on a card is not easy, says Daniel Bader, a technology analyst with Mobile Nations.
Copying a card is ‘very cumbersome’
“It is very cumbersome. It takes a long time. It’s expensive. And presumably, by that time, if your credit card is physically stolen then you would have had time to cancel the card and with it the access to the fingerprint sensor.”
ListenEven if someone did not realize their card was stolen, Bader says the thief “would still have to reproduce the card as well as the fingerprint mechanism which, to my knowledge, is currently impossible.”
Information about the fingerprint is not stored anywhere but on the card itself, which may assuage privacy concerns. It would be destroyed after the card is cancelled and the first time someone tries to use it.
May be a transitional technology
Bader does not think this is a technology that will last, but rather that MasterCard is using it to get people comfortable with using biometrics like fingerprints and retina scans. He believes the ultimate goal is to get people to use their smartphones for purchases using biometrics for authentication.
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