At Mobile World Congress this week, MasterCard announced that it plans to roll out a new `selfie`-based authentication method for online purchases. After successful tests of the service in the U.S. and UK, MasterCard says that it will offer the authentication option, which involves using a smartphone, tablet or PC app in conjunction with a front-facing camera to verify a person`s identity after entering credit card information, in 14 countries this summer. Initially rolling out in the UK, U.S., Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, MasterCard says that its test base far preferred the selfie option to that of a password, which is currently required by MasterCard and its competitor, Visa, when making online purchases. Since most online purchases are still made on devices with larger screens, such as tablets or laptops, MasterCard has built in a handoff workflow that sends a push notification to a smartphone, ...
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