With PayPal’s initiative to introduce advanced security methods, traditional biometric I.D systems (fingerprints, iris scans) can safely be regarded as old school.
A new initiative titled “Kill All Passwords”, is recently being presented at various tech conferences in the U.S. and Europe by Jonathan Leblanc, the global head of developer advocacy at PayPal. He talks about why we’re in need of a more secure technology to carry out mobile payments and other sensitive online transactions.
According to Leblanc, the time has come to replace the concept of username and passwords because majority of consumers end up keeping extremely common passwords.
As said by a PayPal executive, “Embeddable, injectable and ingestible devices are the next wave in identification”. Leblanc further explained this by saying how external body methods like fingerprints are antiquated and internal body functions like heartbeat and vein recognition are the future. The internal body methods will allow “natural body identification” and put users in charge of their own security.
Devices that can make this work would include brain implants, attachable computers and ingestible capsules. In an interview with Wall Street Journal, Leblanc further explained these ingestible devices as devices with batteries that would be powered by stomach acid. He compared this concept to existing medical ‘ingestibles’ that can be used to monitor blood pressure, digestive health and glucose levels in diabetics during his presentation. One of the many other solutions suggested by him, silicone chips embedded under the skin to prove your identity can definitely give one a futuristic feel.
Halifax Bank is one other firm looking at biometric solutions. The bank is trailing heart-monitoring technology to authenticate its customers. They will be providing its customers with an ECG wristband to make their technique work.
Though PayPal is initiating the research and development in biometric technology, Leblanc didn’t confirm which of the techniques Paypal would be looking to introduce.
