MasterCard Offering Payment Security Alternative

MasterCard is working to increase digital payment security measures, rolling out plans to replace passwords with facial identification.

“The company announced it is launching new mobile technologies that will allow customers to authenticate their online purchases using selfies or fingerprints. The technology will be rolled out by big banks in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and some European countries over the next few months,” CNN Money reports.

MasterCard began testing the technology in 2015, and is expected to offer it in the U.S. this year, CNN Money says.

“The technology is simple: Instead of typing in a password into your phone to use the MasterCard app for mobile payments, users simply take a selfie to verify their identity and complete the transaction,” according to CBS News reports.

What’s the goal?

“We want to identify people for who they are, not what they remember,” Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise safety and security for MasterCard, says.