Samsung Develops A Fingerprint Sensor For Payment Cards

Your debit and credit cards usually have a PIN so that when you purchase items, you can enter the PIN to verify your identity. However, depending on your settings, sometimes the requirement of entering the PIN is only for transactions valued over a certain amount, and that if you use contactless payments, sometimes a PIN isn’t even needed.

In those situations, it means that someone who stole your payment card could use it to buy items that are lower value to avoid using a PIN, and by then they might have already racked up a huge enough bill before you notice. That’s something that Samsung is hoping to change which is why the company has unveiled a new fingerprint sensor that can be used in payment cards.

According to Kenny Han, vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics, “S3B512C combines a fingerprint sensor, Secure Element (SE) and Secure Processor, adding an extra layer of authentication and security in payment cards. The S3B512C is primarily designed for payment cards but can also be used in cards that require highly secured authentications such as student or employee identification, membership or building access.”

This means that instead of just verifying the card, it verifies the user at the same time which could be a better form of security. The company does not mention when we might be able to expect to see these sensors actually implemented in real life, but it sounds like a fantastic idea that we hope will become a reality one day.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Samsung, Security