Mastercard and Visa are developing a new authentication solution that will end the need for pesky verification codes when making online payments.
At the moment, before the checkout for an online purchasing process is complete, you're asked to enter a Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode - usually random numbers and letters from a secondary password.
After taking onboard customer feedback, the companies decided to work on a solution that would end the need to remember an extra password in order to complete purchases.
Mastercard said it will use richer cardholder data, so although you may need to input more information in the first step, there's a possibility the second-level authentication will use biometric data or one-time passwords rather than everytime passwords. The company said biometric information could be facial or voice recognition.
We want to identify people for who they are, not what they remember
The company will also trial wristbands that could authenticate your identity though your heart beat, making use of the power of wearables.
The new technology could roll out as soon as next year, although the new security solution has to go through testing to ensure it's as secure as the current 3D Secure protocol.
Ajay Bhalla, president of Enterprise Security Solutions, MasterCard said: "All of us want a payment experience that is safe as well as simple, not one or the other. We want to identify people for who they are, not what they remember. We have too many passwords to remember and this creates extra problems for consumers and businesses."
Mastercard said payments on mobile devices will be responsible for 30 per cent of all online sales by 2018, making the need for a simple and secure solution all the more urgent.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolenNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
Lateral moves in tech: Why leaders should support employee mobilityIn-depth Encouraging staff to switch roles can have long-term benefits for skills in the tech sector
-
I love magic links – why aren’t more services using them?Opinion Using magic links instead of passwords is safe and easy but they’re still infuriatingly underused by businesses
-
Password management startup Passbolt secures $8 million to shake up credential securityNews Password management startup Passbolt has secured $8 million in funding as part of a Series A investment round.
-
LastPass breach comes back to haunt users as hackers steal $12 million in cryptocurrencyNews The hackers behind the LastPass breach are on a rampage two years after their initial attack
-
GitHub launches passkeys beta for passwordless authenticationNews Users can now opt-in to using passkeys, replacing their password and 2FA method
-
Microsoft SQL password-guessing attacks rising as hackers pivot from OneNote vectorsNews Database admins are advised to enforce better controls as attacks ending in ransomware are being observed
-
No, Microsoft SharePoint isn’t cracking users’ passwordsNews The discovery sparked concerns over potentially invasive antivirus scanning practices by Microsoft
-
Microsoft Authenticator mandates number matching to counter MFA fatigue attacksNews The added layer of complexity aims to keep social engineering at bay
-
As Google launches passwordless authentication for all, what are the business benefits of passkeys?News Google follows Apple in its latest shift to passwordless authentication, but what are the benefits?
