This article
discusses the newest technology that MasterCard has created. This technology
allows customers to authenticate their purchases with a ‘selfie’ or fingerprint
instead of traditional password authentication. This technology has already
been picked up by the big banks and is predicted to be used around the world in
as little as five years.
This
new technology is a huge upgrade in terms of privacy protection as fingerprints
and facial scans are far safer safeguards than an easily guessable four-digit
passcode. This type of technology is important because it may very well be the
future of not only mobile security identification, but for all types of
transactions. As mentioned in the article, this technology has maintained a
full-proof way to enable users to use their faces or fingerprints as a means of
identification without fear of hackers. The selfie feature requires users to
blink, so that an old photo cannot be used to access an account. Other
technologies are already on the horizon to authenticate users’ transactions,
such as monitoring heartbeats and voice recognition.
I
feel this article may have overlooked some potential problems with this new
technology. In terms of a selfie, it may be easy for someone to get this
picture without the user’s approval. I’m not sure how effective these technologies
are, and how many potential problems or bugs they could start off with. The
voice recognition is the most troubling to me, because someone could record you
as you’re making a transaction, and use it to make another in the future
without your knowledge.
Despite
these potential issues, I think this technology is truly fascinating and I’m
excited to see the potential uses of it for password and security authentication
in the future.
WIRE, CNN. "Goodbye Password, Hello
Selfie? MasterCard Launching New Technology." Q13 FOX News.
N.p., 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
MasterCard launching new technology that allows customers to authenticate their purchases with a selfie or fingerprint instead of a password definitely presents a lot of benefits as well as potential problems. In this day and age, account hacking is a huge issue. There are always people out there trying to snoop around and figure out account passwords as a way to break into the account and use money that is not theirs. Therefore, I definitely understand why MasterCard is trying to come up with an alternative solution to having traditional passwords that can easily be guessed by potential hackers. And I do think it shows a trustworthy effort on MasterCard’s part to be spending time and money to find a way to keep their customers safe. And who knows, this new technology may very well be the future of password keeping for more than just getting into your bank account.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I question if this technology will actually improve the safety of our bank accounts. I definitely do not think I would trust a selfie to allow access into my account. Even with new technology, there are thieves out there who will find a way to get into other people’s accounts no matter what. And I personally feel that a written code is still more secure method than taking a selfie. However, I do find the fingerprint technology much more comforting than the selfie technology. Because everyone on the planet has a different fingerprint, it would be extremely challenging to duplicate and get access into someone else’s account. However, I do not think it would be that hard to pass as someone else in a selfie. For example, what if someone has an identical twin? Would the twin be able to access their sibling’s account just by taking a picture of themselves? That definitely wouldn’t be safe.
I do agree that society should be moving toward a new technology and away from traditional passwords due to the numerous issues people all over the world have had with passwords being stolen in the past. However, I do not know if I feel totally comfortable with using a picture of my face as a way to access my bank account. Someone’s personal bank account is a very serious matter, however, a selfie is not. That is why I’m having a hard time picturing a future where someone can take a picture of themselves and authorize purchases.
The bloggers title grabbed my attention to read this article since I’ve recently heard about some companies replacing the users passwords with things such as selfies. I think this is a clever idea and would be more convenient, especially for the customer. Similar to this idea, Apple allows its users to enter their phones using their fingerprints rather than a number code, which I think makes it easier and more grants quicker access to my phone. This would also be a good idea for MasterCard. For example, a customer can forget a password, but they will always be able to take a picture or show their fingerprint. It would also ensure that the customer would have even more privacy protection than just a digital password, which people can find out. However, while reading about this new technology I was wondering how advanced it was. Would it be able to tell identical twins apart, or would the camera read them as the same person? Another question I had was, would they just be planning to do fingerprinting and selfie authorization in their own banks or are they trying to get stores to follow and add this security for when customers are paying instead of pins? Although I still think MasterCard has some issues to work out, I think they have the potential to be very successful with this. I will admit I am a little skeptical of a few things such as the picture identification, but overall I think MasterCard had a good idea and I think that many company's are going to follow in the future.
ReplyDeleteI believe that MasterCard chose to install this new technology as a way to attract millennials and a society that is currently using social media and taking "selfies" often. A selfie is a term which has been coined in the past decade and could very well be a fad of this generation. I think that MasterCard is creating unnecessary technology that does not protect users, but offers more opportunities for the information and finances of individuals to be hacked. It is very simple for someone to film another person, without the other person being aware. People are constantly taking videos and photos with their cellular devices, that it is too simple for someone to take a video of another person blinking. The issue then comes when a phone is stolen or their is access to an account. The hacker can simply hold the video of the user up to the camera and then gain access with the stolen "selfie". While this idea may be far-fetched, it can easily occur and demonstrates the flaws in this new technology that MasterCard is developing. I would also be interested if this article discussed more of the technology of how exactly the camera recognizes the distinct facial features of another person. Many people could have similar traits, which could allow others access into the accounts. While the fingerprint lock button makes users press and copy their fingerprint several times before it is locked in, you cannot get an impression of a selfie. This new technology is a creative way of keeping up with trends and trying to introduce new technology to a business, but it has too many flaws to gain credibility. While a selfie may be nice to use for social media, it should be a security pass code for financial security.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting about this blog post is that it shows a credit card company taking incentive to try to find a new and innovative way to secure their card holder’s accounts. Credit cards are often stolen, and this becomes a frustration to both the customer whose credit card was stolen, as well as the company who owns the card that was being used at the time. By coming up with a new technology, such as using a finger print or a “selfie,” as MasterCard is doing, this adds a new level of protection that to enhance the security for card holders. While this additional level of protection would help to an extent, I do see a few issues with this idea. The first problem would be with online orders. In person, you could take a “selfie” or show a “selfie” to prove your identity, but if it was online the closest you could get would be to submit an image. If one were to do that they could submit a picture of the person they stole the card from almost as easily as they could post their own. Also, a finger print would be nearly impossible to use for online shopping unless everyone got new computers with special technology in it to do that. Another issue I see here, is that the “selfie” technology would have to be very advanced in order to ensure that someone who looks very similar to them could not pass as that person. The final issue I find with this idea is that sometimes family members borrow each other’s cards, for various reasons. This would not allow people who are permitted to borrow the card use the card. They would not have the correct “selfie” or fingerprint. All in all, I think the idea is heading in the right direction with finding new ways to enhance their customer’s security, but there are definitely a few issues with this idea that would have to be worked out first.
ReplyDeleteThe selfie or fingerprint authentication technology created by MasterCard is amazing in terms of what humanity has accomplished, but in reality, it opens up too many doors for the dangers that can occur involving one’s financial and personal information. With that being the case, I still feel that facial and finger recognition has its benefits. I feel that it is extremely convenient to be able to access one’s very private information with just the blink of their own eye. That could lead to better efficiency and could raise the public’s opinions in a positive fashion. With less hassle, the majority of people will start to lean towards the use of this technology, and therefore sparking growth in that company’s market.
ReplyDeleteReferring back to the possible downfalls to this information technology, the risk of hacking, fraud, etc. is increased. There are ways for someone to get their hands on another person’s fingerprint and with technology today, such as phones, the chance of someone getting another person’s face among other things isn’t impossible. Another problem is raised as well when discussing the facial recognition technology. In the case where if someone were to get surgery or were to get into a terrible accident altering the look of one’s face could throw off the facial recognition mechanism, preventing that person from accessing their information. This case is of the minority of the public, but could still lead to issues. Other than the issues explained, the post and technology are very informative and interesting.
I find this technology by MasterCard to be a bit worrisome. Technology security is a huge issue in todays world and with encryption constantly advancing I feel that this technology will not. There are only so many ways you can uniquely identify a persons face. Of course this technology might seem advance but its almost as crazy as wearing your password on your t-shirt. If someone cant find a way to trick the machine into authenticating a photograph or video I would be very shocked. Even protection that uses fingerprints aren’t protected by spoofing and its been proven to be very vulnerable to attacks. You can check out spoofing the Samsung Galaxy S5 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhLZZWBn5Q. I know the idea of spoofing might seem a bit farfetched because you need a copy of the persons fingerprint but it only takes one phone with sensitive information to cause trouble. If someone were needing to gain access using this method it would not be impossible to do.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity I would propose the idea of identical twins using this software. Would both be able to access each others accounts? If both have almost identical facial details they must be able to pass for each other. I don’t see why they wouldn’t considering how facial technology works. This technology cannot replace passwords or keys because it has too many flaws. I feel that a password will always exist for when these forms of authentication fail to work. It could even be much better if it was built into multi-step authentication so the facial tools could verify that the person entering the code is actually the account owner. I feel that this would be the best approach for MasterCard until they can verify that their software is flawless.