Image Source: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us.html
Credit cards have traditionally relied on PIN numbers and signatures for security. Last week, MasterCard introduced a new credit card that ditches both of those in favor of fingerprint authentication. Here’s a full rundown of the new fingerprint-enabled credit card, based on this report from The Verge.
As mobile payments and fingerprint-based purchases grow more common, MasterCard has introduced a credit card with a built-in fingerprint scanner. The card is the same size as a standard card. Users won’t need to enter a PIN or sign anything — they can complete a payment simply by touching the card.
The company says the new card, currently being tested in South Africa, works with all existing chip-and-PIN readers except magnetic stripe-only terminals. Trials are planned soon in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, with availability in the U.S. expected in early 2018.
In the company’s announcement, MasterCard’s security chief Ajay Bhalla said the card would make payments more convenient and more secure. However, his claim that fingerprints can’t be replicated isn’t quite accurate. When fingerprint scanners were first introduced on smartphones, it turned out to be relatively easy to copy someone’s fingerprint. Fraudsters have used things like dental molds to lift a person’s fingerprint with ease. And once your fingerprint is compromised, unlike a PIN or password, you can’t simply change it.
Still, some security experts argue fingerprints are actually a better option than PINs. “The PIN is the weak link in chip-and-PIN. Using a fingerprint removes that weakness. It also helps people avoid the bad habit of reusing weak passwords,” said Karsten Nohl, a researcher at Berlin’s Security Research Labs, speaking to BBC News.