But what if your palm print gets stolen?
Amazon is adding itsAmazon One palm paymentsto more than 65 of its Whole Foods stores across California.
To pay, you just need to hover your palm over the reader, and you’re done.
Amazon
“So it scores very high from a convenience standpoint.
However, there is always a risk to handing over personal biometric information to a third party.
From a risk standpoint, storing that information encrypted on a personal unit is likely more secure.”
Amazon
Then, you just scan your palm instead of your credit card to pay at checkout.
Amazon bills this as extra convenient, but it really isn’t.
It’s almost the same as waving your palm, with one added double-click beforehand.
Kittiporn Kumpang / Getty Images
None of this would matter if it weren’t for the problems with using biometrics as authentication.
It sounds good at first.
Amazon makes the case on itsAmazon One page: “Your palm is a unique part of you.
It doesn’t go anywhere you don’t and can’t be used by anyone but you.”
It is possible to do all this without storing your palm print.
When you pay, the scanning machine does the same thing again.
It scans, creates a hash, and compares the hash to the one it has on file.
If they match, it’s possible for you to pay.
Biometric Dangers
But there are multiple problems that accompany using and storing biometrics.
One is that sometimes they can be stolen.
And theres nothing anyone can do about that.
And it works the other way too.
Kittiporn Kumpang / Getty Images
However, its not all bad news for biometrics.
Apples Face ID and Touch ID take a different approach.
Even if an attacker has access to your phone, they cannot extract a fingerprint or face scan.
Once the authentication is done on the gear, the phone makes a regular credit card payment.
Its much safer and just as convenient.
And who knows where your data will end up, even if it isnt stolen?
