We all like to think that all of our financial information is secure. After all, this is the digital world; we’re sure that companies have already come up with ways to make our banking and finance free from any form of theft whatsoever. However, in the banking industry, that isn’t the case, especially for credit and debit cards that still use the traditional magnetic strip, in which all it takes is a simple swipe or scan to get all of your information.
This is why Mastercard is trying to make it harder for criminals to get into your account by introducing a fingerprint reader onto the card itself.
Source: Popular Mechanics
The fingerprint reader is placed on the corner of the card and works in any standard atm/chip reader. When you make a transaction, the card will check for your fingerprint against its stored records and denies access if they don’t match. So if someone tries to steal your card, they won’t be able to get in unless they have your fingerprint.
While this is a wonderful addition, fingerprints can be stolen, and once they have it, it’s with them forever, and you only have 9 more chances to apply for a new card for with the rest of your fingers. Supposedly, this fingerprint reader should work in conjunction with the traditional PIN for the best security, but it only seems to work with fingerprints only for whatever reason. Hopefully a future version will do so.
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Source: The Verge
In the meantime, the new credit card is undergoing its first trials in South Africa, with additional planned trials in parts of Europe and Southeast Asia. After that, a global expansion is planned, as well as a fingerprint reader with contactless card payments in the near future.
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