SASKATOON – Soon your picture could be worth a lot more than a thousand words. MasterCard has announced it plans to replace the four-digit pin with selfies.
After a successful pilot program overseas, the company is getting ready to launch an app that will use biometrics like facial recognition and fingerprints to authenticate payments.
A cyber-security expert from the University of Saskatchewan, Lawrence Dobranski, says the app is a step up in protection compared to the four-digit password.
“They’re moving away from something that we recall, something you know, your pin; to something you are, your face,” says Dobranski.
READ MORE: Mumbai sets no-selfie zones as deaths linked to selfies rise
Dobranski explains the app will most likely use ‘The Golden Triangle’, an algorithm that recognizes the space between your eyes and mouth. It will also have a special feature to deter fraud by showing a picture of someone.
“They also do something unique, they get you to blink to make sure you’re alive,” says Dobranski.
According to Dobranski, MasterCard’s main problem will be trying to minimize the number of times the app incorrectly denies the correct user payment.
“They’re having an awful lot of false rejections where people are declined a transaction although it is really them and they’re trying to eliminate that,” says Dobranski.
Of course with any new technology there is a chance of security threats, but as Dobranski explains the positives outweigh the negatives.
“We’re continually moving forward with technology to deal with the malicious actors. It’s an evolution. As the crooks get better we have to put better controls in place to try to thwart them.”
But will this technology be accepted by the public? It seems many Saskatonians are selfie hesitant, but all for fingerprint authentication.
“I wouldn’t use it I’m not a selfie person … a fingerprint, ya, I would use that,” says Lee.
“I think a fingerprint would be better because I just think that would be weird,” says Romney.
Don’t forget your password just yet, the ‘selfie pay’ app won’t be released in Canada until summer 2016.