Security News > 2021 > July > Thales launches payment card with onboard fingerprint scanner

Thales has announced what it claims is the "World's first" payment card to include an onboard fingerprint sensor, promising improved security and usability - and an end to contactless payment limits.

The Thales Gemalto Biometric Sensor Payment card, the company explained, replaces the traditional PIN with an on-card fingerprint sensor and requires no modifications to existing point-of-sale payment terminals.

Thales claimed to have implemented the card with banks worldwide, boasting of 30 months of live trials and 10,000 users across nine countries including the UK. "Over 80 per cent of users interviewed confirmed they love it and feel it's more convenient and provides greater security," Frédéric Martinez, product line manager for biometric and advanced payment at Thales, told.

"In terms of security, the biometric card ultimately means that a lost or stolen card is useless without the owner's fingerprint to authenticate a contactless transaction. In such trustworthy payment environments, there is no need to set any payment limit."

"Martinez is unconcerned."The biometric system on the card includes anti-spoofing features," he told us, "making any mould based on a photograph of the fingerprint not able to fool the system.

"When registering the customer's fingerprint, the reference data of their fingerprint is only stored in the secure chip of the card. This does not include any biometric data per se, but is a mathematical conversion of single points that represent your fingerprint reference data. In addition, no personal data is stored in the services of the financial institution or sent to any other centralised database. Even if the card is lost or stolen, the data cannot be recovered by a third party."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/07/22/thales_fingerprint_payment/