Spring will bring enhancements to MasterCard’s cybersecurity technologies that will add an independent layer of security resources “on top of the tools and policies of financial institutions.” Dubbed MasterCard Safety Net in the U.S., the service will monitor  transactions that cross the MasterCard network and, “only in extreme cases”, block fraudulent activity.

Later in the year, MasterCard and First Tech Federal Credit Union will pilot a new service that will enable First Tech members to authenticate and verify their own transactions using a combination of biometric factors, which may include face, voice and fingerprints.

First Tech and MasterCard had already established a relationship that made MasterCard the payment solutions provider for its 380,000 members. As part of that agreement the credit union will issue new credit and debit cards to all of its members. The new cards will embed EMV Chip and PIN technology as a first-line defense against fraud. It will then follow up with new features and functions, including a new rewards program, card personalization and “tokenization programs.”

Since its headquarters are in Mountain View, CA, (in the center of the Silicon Valley), it serves employees of some of the most prominent high-tech firms int he world, including HP, Microsoft, Agilent, Intel, CISCO, Amazon, Intuit and Google. With MasterCard as its primary provider of payment solutions, it is an ideal test bed for biometric-based payment authorization. Opus Research fully expects First Tech will find its members as enthusiastic as those at USAA who are using both face and voice to authenticate themselves when using the new mobile app.

Categories: Intelligent Authentication

Tags: mobile payments, biometrics, MasterCard