Tag: amazon

Amazing files new patent application for facial recognition technology service

Amazon is making another move in the mobile payments space. The e-commerce company has filed a patent application for technology that will allow mobile shoppers to authenticate transactions using a photo or video of themselves. This would replace passwords, which have long been a staple in mobile transactions. Amazon believes that using facial recognition technology will make mobile commerce more secure, thereby making consumers more comfortable with the concept of using their mobile devices to make purchases.

MasterCard is also launching a service leveraging facial recognition technology

Using facial recognition technology to authenticate mobile payments is not a new idea. MasterCard is rolling out a similar system in the coming months. The service will be initially launched in the United States and several countries throughout Europe. If successful, it may be expanded into new markets. MasterCard’s service requires users to blink into the camera of their mobile device before a transaction is completed.

Biometric technology may make mobile commerce more secure

Biometric technology is becoming very important for the mobile commerce space. This technology leverages biological information, such as a fingerprint, to authenticate a payment. Companies involved in the mobile commerce space are beginning to use this technology to make mobile transactions more secure. Using facial recognition technology is meant to have the same effect, as this technology can and has been used to make mobile devices more secure than they are currently.

Digital risks are becoming more apparent in the mobile commerce market, but companies are fighting back

The mobile payments field is growing quickly, but security remains one of the biggest concerns that consumers have. Mobile commerce deals in the transmission of financial information, and this information is very attractive to malicious groups. As such, they are targeting the mobile commerce space for personal gain. Companies like Amazon, however, are beginning to use new technology to fight against digital threats. This technology may help make the mobile commerce sector more secure and ensure that consumers use their mobile devices to make purchases in the future.

The marketplace and technology giant is bringing encryption back after considerable consumer upset.

Amazon.com has now announced that it will be returning its encryption mobile security feature to its Fire tablets following complaints and upset from privacy advocates and customers that accused the massive online marketplace of quietly slipping the security option off the devices with its latest operating system release.

A spokesperson for the company promised that the feature would be returned to the OS in the spring.

Robin Handaly, spokesperson for Amazon.com, explained that “We will return the option for full-disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring.” The decision to remove the encryption component of the Fire operating system’s mobile security fell into the spotlight quite suddenly this week. Amazon explained that the feature had been removed in one of its Fire OS versions that first started shipping in the fall of 2015 because there weren’t many customers who had used it in previous versions.

This mobile security feature scramble’s the device data so it is accessible only to someone who has entered a password.

The encryption feature was built into previous versions of the Fire operating system and blocked access to the contents of the device to anyone who did not know the correct password. According to Bruce Schneier, a widely recognized cryptologist, Amazon’s choice to take down this encryption was “stupid.” Schneier was one of the large number of people and groups who were public about their criticism of Amazon’s removal of the encryption security and who publicly requested that the company bring it back.

Amazon isn’t the only one that has been caught up in struggles with regards to mobile device security. Apple has also been facing several legal battles with regards to whether or not they should be required to unlock iPhones involved in criminal cases, including the case involving Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters.

This week, Amazon.com joined many other large tech companies when it added its signature to a court brief that was created to encourage a federal judge would take Apple’s side and not require that company to write code that would break through the mobile security of the iPhone used by Farook.