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A report by news channel CNN-Money has announced that MasterCard will begin to trial the use of biometric payment authentication by approving online purchases with facial scanning. Customers will be able to scan their faces using their mobile phone’s camera – commonly referred to today as a “selfie”.

The reason behind this innovation is simple: it’s easier than remembering a password.

We are told to use passwords which are not obvious, but these are not easy to remember and people often end up writing them down which, of course, is a risk. Alternatively, obvious passwords are easy to identify and are therefore also at risk of being guessed. Ultimately, passwords will always be at risk of being forgotten, stolen or intercepted.

Fingerprint biometrics have recently started to be used in mobile transactions to authenticate payments, such as the iPhone TouchID, which, says the report, has proved that customers are willing to rely on biometric security authentication.

Later this year, MasterCard will pilot their new authentication app to 500 people who will be able to use fingerprint and facial scans to authenticate their payments. It has partnered with the majority of smartphone manufacturers such as Apple, BlackBerry, Google, Microsoft and Samsung.

Watch CNN’s interview with Ajay Bhalla, MasterCard’s Chief Product Security Officer, who discusses their new idea:

To read the full CNN-Money report, click here.