Biometrics for Credit Cards

1
Biometrics for Credit Cards

• Chris Holtz Mark Tjersland
• Group 12

2
Biometrics

• The study of automated methods for uniquely
  recognizing humans based upon one or more
  intrinsic physical or behavioral traits.
• These traits include fingerprints, iris, retina,
  voice, and gait.

3
Credit Card Security

• For card present transactions, where the credit
  card is at the place of the sale, a signature is
  used as verification of the identity of the card
  holder.

4
Credit Card Security

• For card not present transactions, such as
  online purchases, most cards use a security
  number found on the back of the card to verify
  that the purchaser actually has the card.

5
Credit Card Security Flaws

• Most retailers neglect to check authenticity of
  signatures.
• The security numbers only work for people whose
  credit card numbers were stolen. If the physical
  card was stolen, it may still be used for card
  not present transactions.

6
Credit Cards and Biometrics

• Its a Winning Combination

7
How It Would Work

• Customers would place finger on scanning device
  at time of purchase
• Fingerprint then matched to info in a database
• This grants the customer access to customers
  bank account

8
The Pros of Credit Card Biometrics

• Safer and More Secure
• Customer Convenience
• Retailer Benefits
• Reduced Fraud Risk
• Rapid technological improvements

9
Safer and More Secure

• Fingerprints are unique
• No personal data is sent to retailer
• All info goes to and from private database
• No PIN
• Can be stolen and used by anyone
• No card to be lost or stolen
• Card not necessary for in-store purchases
• Minimize identity theft and fraud

10
Customer Convenience

• Faster Checkout
• No receipt signing
• Faster processing time
• Again, no card or PIN to be forgotten, lost or
  stolen
• Customer simply scans fingerprint

11
Retailer Benefits

• Faster transactions
• More customers can be accommodated in a shorter
  amount of time
• More sales
• Some trials have shown that biometric systems
  increase impulse buys up to 30
• Potentially cheaper processing fees
• If Automated Clearing House (ACH) purchases are
  encouraged
• Cheaper than traditional systems
• Less to implement than Point of Sale systems

12
The Future is Bright

• New card completely internalizes the fingerprint
  scanning process
• No information transferred
• No databases necessary
• Card is unusable without cardholders prints
• Card becomes useless if stolen or lost
• Interacts with existing systems
• No new hardware necessary

13
Privacy Concerns

• Customer databases are run privately and not open
  to government or law enforcement authorities
• Incredibly difficult to use stolen fingerprints
• Technology constantly improving
• New self-contained cards

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And the Best Benefit of All

• Makes underage alcohol purchases with credit
  cards nearly impossible

15
The Cons of Credit Card Biometrics

• Increased cost for retailers
• Increased cost for consumers
• Inconvenient for consumers
• Online transactions not more secure
• Problems with identity theft

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Increased Cost for Retailers

• Cost of upgrading to biometric scanning equipment
• Restaurants, which deal with many credit
  transactions, would either need portable
  fingerprint scanners or need to inconvenience
  patrons by making them coming to a stationary
  scanner.
• Cost of maintaining scanning equipment

17
Increased Cost for Consumers

• The increased costs for retailers gets passed
  down to the consumer as higher prices.
• Increased credit card rates for maintaining the
  biometric database and data transfer for
  verification

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Inconvenient for Consumers

• Scanners can become unsanitary from frequent
  usage.
• Consumers must go have their biometric data
  recorded before they can use the card.

19
Online Purchases not More Secure

• Purchasers would need either a biometric data
  file or biometric scanner for transaction.
• These can either be stolen or bypassed since the
  retailer must rely on data coming from an unknown
  source.

20
Problems with Identity Theft

• With current credit card identity theft, the
  victim only needs to get their account
  deactivated to end the problem.
• If biometric data is stolen, it is impossible for
  the user to get new traits, and thus the stolen
  data can be used against them their entire life.

21
Privacy Issues

• Biometric databases may be used by government
  agencies if future legislation permits it.
• Biometrics frequently cause a guilty until proven
  innocent mentality in law enforcement.

22
Sources

• ISO Agent, Volume 1 Issue 20
• http//www.cardforum.com/attachments/20050518LTDU
  7CQU-1-5-18-05iso.pdf
• Love to Know Business, Credit Card Processing
  Biometrics
• http//business.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Credit_Card_P
  rocessing_Biometrics
• CNN Money, Are biometrics the answer to identity
  theft
• http//money.cnn.com/2005/07/19/pf/security_biome
  trics/
• Biometricshttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics
  
• Biometrics and Credit Card Securityhttp//experta
  nswercenter.techtarget.com/eac/knowledgebaseAnswer
  /0,295199,sid63_gci980485,00.html
• IBM, Enhancing security and privacy in
  biometrics-based authentication systems
• http//www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/403/ratha.
  html
• AME Info Biometrics breakthrough
• http//www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/403/ratha.
  html