The first debit card with built-in fingerprint reader is launched by the NatWest bank in the United Kingdom.
The British bank NatWest is testing the use of a new NFC payment card with a built-in fingerprint scanner. The test will include 200 customers, starting in mid-April and allowing participants to do NFC payments (Near Field Communication or otherwise "contactless payments") without having to enter a PIN or sign. The standard limit of EUR 30 applicable to contactless transactions in the United Kingdom (in Greece is 25 euro) will not apply when using the dactmaterial imprint.
Currently, anyone can make a contactless payment in either the UK or Greece by touching their card to a terminal that should support contactless payments. As a result of this lack of security, a limit of €25-30 is applied to such payments (depending on the country), where retailers ask you to place your card on the card reader (POS) and enter a PIN for markets greater than the above limit (usually referred to as the “chip and PIN” method).
Φαίνεται ότι κάτι θα αλλάξει στην μέθοδο αυτή αφού πραγματοποιούνται οι πρώτες σοβαρές δοκιμές με κάρτες δακτυλικών αποτυπωμάτων. Τα δεδομένα των δακτυλικών αποτυπωμάτων αποθηκεύονται τοπικά στην κάρτα, πράγμα που σημαίνει ότι δεν υπάρχουν πληροφορίες ασφαλείας για έναν hacker που να μπορεί να κλέψει από την κεντρική βάση data of a bank. Of course it locks unlocks as there's always the risk that a determined enough thief could steal and mimic your fingerprint, but according to Natwest bank, it's far more secure than a PIN that someone could learn just by looking over the your shoulder as you type it.
Biometric authentication, which has already become a standard NFC mobile payment element, despite credit card tests conducted by 2015, has failed to respond to traditional bank cards. Gemalto, the company behind the biometric card technology, conducted a test in South Africa 2017 as well as another one last year Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo. The problem was that the cards required users to visit their bank for the footprint instead of doing it on their own, as is the case with mobile phone payment services.
The NatWest test does not overcome this problem. Participants should visit a branch of their bank. In a video released by the manufacturer Gemalto says it hopes future versions of the system will allow customers to use their own phone to register fingerprints the fingerprints.
This inconvenience raises the question of why biometric cards are necessary when mobile payment functionality is included in so many modern smartphones with fingerprint readers and face scanners. But since bank cards are provided free of charge to a qualifying bank account, this system has the potential to be made available to users who do not want or cannot afford to buy a modern smartphone.
