PARTNER NEWS: A 10-page guide that explores how Samsung Pay works and its key benefits is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Biometrics
Samsung says iris scanner hack could “only have been made under a rare combination of circumstances”
Samsung has responded to the group of hackers from the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) who managed to defeat the iris recognition system on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones, saying that the hackers’ claims could “only have been made under a rare combination of circumstances”. More
UAE biometric database will allow residents not to carry ID
UAE biometric database will allow residents not to carry ID — Gulf Business — “The UAE plans to utilise third generation biometric data with the goal of allowing residents not to carry their ID card within the next five years… By 2018, the authority is also aiming to allow 80% people to use government services via their mobile by operating the device’s Near Field Communication chip to read their Emirates ID.”
Samsung Pay rolls out across Hong Kong following early access launch
Samsung Pay has gone live in Hong Kong with support from Mastercard, Visa and American Express and banks including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Citibank, DahSing Bank, DBS and Standard Chartered. The launch takes the mobile payment service to a total of 17 markets globally and follows its debut in Taiwan earlier this month. More
NEC earbuds showcase hands-free biometric verification
NEC earbuds showcase hands-free biometric verification — New Atlas — “The new prototype earbuds are an application of NEC’s “hearable device user authentication technology”… NEC says the technology can identify the user within one second and with “greater than 99% accuracy”. Unlike biometrics based on the iris recognition or fingerprints, you don’t need to hold or look at your phone to use it.”
New cloud framework for mobile biometrics
New cloud framework for mobile biometrics — The Stack — “Researchers from the IEEE have proposed a high-performance cluster cloud framework to help manage the mountains of data associated with mobile biometric authentication… the team found that using a cloud-based biometric authentication framework, or BAMCloud, helped to achieve network speed performance of over eight times more than alternate methods.”
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner — Security Week — “Hackers of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Germany have managed to defeat the iris recognition system on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 smartphones… While an individual’s iris is unique, researchers from CCC showed that Samsung’s iris scanner can be defeated by showing it a picture of the victim’s eye.”
Samsung Pay goes live in Taiwan with seven banks
Samsung Pay has been launched across Taiwan with support from Visa and Mastercard along with seven major banks including Citibank, Cathay United Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, Fubon Bank, Union Bank of Taiwan and Standard Chartered. The service supports iris scan authentication for those with Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices. More
BBC fools HSBC voice recognition security system
BBC fools HSBC voice recognition security system — BBC News — “What’s really alarming is that the bank allowed me seven attempts to mimic my brothers’ voiceprint and get it wrong, before I got in at the eighth time of trying.”
Govt eyes private sector access to national facial recognition service
Govt eyes private sector access to national facial recognition service — Computerworld Australia — “Within the Attorney-General’s Department there’s a view that private sector access to the government’s national facial recognition system would represent a ‘natural progression’ of its development. Andrew Rice, AGD assistant secretary, Cyber and Identity Security Branch, today said that there would be proof of concept opportunities for private sector access to the system in FY17-18.”
Google to let users make in-app and online payments with any stored card and add P2P payments to digital assistant
Google has unveiled a new payment API that will allow customers to make payments through third party mobile apps, websites and the company’s voice-based Google Assistant using “any credit or debit card stored in their Google account” from across a range of services including Android Pay, Google Play and Google Chrome. The API will also let customers use a stored card to complete transactions via a new peer-to-peer (P2P) payments feature that will be added to the digital assistant. More
Delta is testing facial recognition technology, plans first biometric-based self-service bag drop in US
Delta is testing facial recognition technology, plans first biometric-based self-service bag drop in US — Delta — “Delta is introducing four self-service bag drop machines at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this summer… One machine will be equipped to test facial recognition technology to match customers with their passport photos through identification verification, a first for US carriers.”
Samsung Pay goes live in the UK with iris scan authentication and faster transit payments
Samsung Pay is now available in the UK for customers of three financial institutions — MBNA, Nationwide and Santander — with “more on the way”. The service supports iris scan authentication as well as PIN and fingerprint authentication for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners and offers a ‘transport card’ option designed to speed up transactions on busy Transport for London (TfL) services. More
Kiwis warm to mobile, wearable and biometric payments
Nearly six in ten New Zealanders (59%) think mobile payments will be the next major payments technology to take off, followed by payments using wearables like smartwatches (47%) and biometrics such as facial recognition and fingerprints (42%), research released by Mastercard reveals. More
Mobile biometric payment volumes to triple in 2017 to nearly 2bn
Mobile biometric payment volumes to triple in 2017 to nearly 2bn — Juniper Research — “The size of the opportunity has been boosted by the greater availability of fingerprint sensors — around 60% of smartphone models are expected to ship with such sensors this year, with many Chinese vendors incorporating them into mid-range models.”
Gemalto completes 3M biometrics acquisition
PARTNER NEWS: Digital security giant Gemalto has completed the acquisition of 3M’s Identity Management Business, adding biometric technologies to its Government Programs offering... More
Goode reports on growth of biometric authentication
Revenues for mobile and wearable biometric authentication will exceed US$6.2bn by 2022, Goode Intelligence predicts... More
Samsung Pay launches in Sweden and the UAE, enters early access in Hong Kong and Switzerland
Samsung Pay has expanded to four additional markets with official launches in Sweden and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and early access launches in Hong Kong and Switzerland. The service has also been made available on Samsung’s Gear S3 smartwatch in Russia, Sweden and the UAE in addition to its availability on the Gear S3 in the US, Singapore and Australia. More
Mastercard tests biometric payments card in South Africa
Employees at Pick n Pay supermarket stores and Absa Bank staff across South Africa have been trialling a biometric card developed by Mastercard that lets them make a payment at any EMV terminal and authenticate the transaction by placing their finger on the embedded sensor. Additional trials are planned over the next few months, with a full roll out expected “later this year”. More
Kiwi millennials want biometrics for payments
Some 62% of New Zealand’s millennials would like to use a fingerprint or retina scan to make payments, viewing biometrics as “secure and convenient and having the cool factor”, research released by Visa reveals... More