The world of mobile pay seems to grow larger ever day as services like Apple Pay, PayPal, Square, and Softcard expand their reach and expound on their plans. Not wanting to be the odd one out, it appears that Samsung will be launching its own fingerprint-activated mobile pay system in Korea by the end of the month.
The project is being handled by Samsung SDS, an IT services subsidiary of Samsung. The system will be tested in Korea, but Samsung SDS has said it does eventually have plans for a global rollout. Even though this is being developed by Samsung, there is no guarantee or comment on whether this will be part of the Samsung Pay system, or will operate as a stand-alone service.
Biometrics have become a hot method of user identification over the last two years, ever since Apple released its Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 5S. Fingerprints, however, were proven to be less secure than most thought after an online group faked a fingerprint and gained entry into an iPhone 5S within a week of its release. There are rumors that the Samsung SDS system may include retinal scanning, which would bring a whole new angle to the biometric identification game.
This system is only the second in the world to gain certification by FIDO, a coalition of companies including Microsoft, PayPal, and Google that determines the quality and integrity of a biometrics system. This push for biometrics could very well open the door to a much-needed password-free future. Passwords truly represent the main weak point for data breach and security failures. If online security were switched solely to biometrics, accounts could be that much more secure.
