www.thepeninsulaqatar.com CAMPUS | 4 COMMUNITY | 5 ENTERTAINMENT | 11 PEC team enters NIA celebrates Working with Qatar Debate Indian harvest Ilayaraja fun: final festival Kamal Haasan MONDAY 9 MAY 2016 Email: [email protected] thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar Some banks, tax agencies and tech companies are mak- ing the selfie an inte- gral step for people checking their bank accounts, shopping online and filing tax returns. SELFIES AS PASSWORDS P | 2-3 02 | MONDAY 9 MAY 2016 COVER STORY Your password could be written all over your face with selfie security that difficult to find out what someone looks like. “Everyone has your face,” says Alvaro Bedoya, the executive director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology. “So it is a mode of authentication that is inherently public.” To overcome that risk, the companies are re- quiring selfies that are a little different than the ones you might see on Facebook. After finding the right angle, consumers are asked to move around to confirm that the cam- era is capturing a live person and not a photo. In the MasterCard and USAA programmes, users are told when to blink. Georgia’s tax pro- gramme will prompt people to position their faces a certain way and scan for motion. The photos are typically not the only safety measure, serving instead as the second or third method of authentication. USAA, for example, says that it checks not only the photo, but also for the device being By Jonnelle Marte For instance, MasterCard plans to roll out used to access the account. That means a crim- The Washington Post a service nicknamed “Selfie Pay” this summer inal should not be able to log in from anoth- through its member banks. Through the pro- er phone that isn’t already registered with their gramme, consumers would shop online as usual systems, Shaw said. For the tax programme, and after checking out, they would confirm the Georgia will compare the selfies consumers sub- he selfie is about to get serious. Already purchase by taking a selfie with a MasterCard mit to the photos it has in its database of state ubiquitous at parties and for captur- mobile app. driver’s licenses. ing Instagram- worthy landscapes, the And Georgia will roll out a pilot programme Privacy advocates fear that if companies Tact of raising a phone to your face and for the next tax season at the end of the year misuse the photos, it could lead to situations finding the perfect photo angle could take on that gives taxpayers the option of creating a se- where people are instantly identified when they a whole new role in people’s finances. Some cure account where they verify their identities walk into stores or while they are walking down banks, tax agencies and tech companies are by taking a photo. If there is a match, taxpayers the street. Some of that is already happening. making the selfie an integral step for people will be asked take a photo on their smartphones Several states allow law-enforcement agen- checking their bank accounts, shopping online before their tax returns can be processed, en- cies to use facial recognition to search, or re- and filing tax returns. suring the return was not submitted by a fraud- quest searches, of driver’s license databas- Forced to find creative ways to guard against ster. es when they need help identifying people for the rising threat of identity theft, a growing The growing use of facial recognition, how- investigations. Some retailers have used the number of companies are moving from a sys- ever, raises a series of security and privacy con- technology to recognise regular or problemat- tem that tests people on what they know, such cerns. One obvious vulnerability is that it is not ic shoppers. as a password. Now they want to ask consumers to pro- vide evidence of something that can’t easily be changed or copied: their face. “In our opinion, the password is dying,” said Tom Shaw, vice president of enterprise security at financial services firm USAA. The company now lets customers use a self- ie instead of a password to log in to their mo- bile banking apps. Customers only need to choose the facial recognition option when they open the app, hold the phone up to their face and blink. It’s much easier for some consumers to take a quick picture than it is to ask them to remember yet another username and password, Shaw says. A photo also can serve as a way for consum- ers to offer proof that it was indeed them — and not an imposter —who made that purchase or submitted that form. MONDAY 9 MAY 2016 | 03 COVER STORY “It is a basic human freedom says that its technology will scan for the added measure. Greater ac- information before their tax re- to be able to walk outside and be features that are unlikely to change cess to consumers’ personal details funds are paid, taking a selfie could anonymous and be private,” said much over time, such as the shape has made it easier for criminals to be easier and faster than calling or Bedoya. “If you can no longer be a of a person’s eyes. take out loans in their names, go on mailing in a form. face in the crowd, that’s a problem.” Whether most consumers will shopping sprees or file fraudulent “We’re getting to a place where But some of the companies and go along with the new selfie pro- tax returns. About 17.6 million Amer- we can really start using our identi- agencies introducing facial-recogni- grammes has yet to be seen. The icans were victims of identity theft in ties as a key, or as a way to protect tion programmes say they are only parties introducing facial recogni- 2014, meaning they had their bank ourselves,” said Mark DiFraia, senior using the images to verify custom- tion and other biometric options account, credit card or other per- director of market development at ers’ identities. cite convenience and security when sonal information stolen, according MorphoTrust USA. They also say they are protecting pitching the technology. to the most recent data from the Consumers may also find they consumers by not storing the imag- The process relies on smart- Department of Justice. have options beyond facial recog- es. MasterCard, for instance, said it phones that many consumers al- The selfie offers a simple way nition when it comes to confirming converts the initial photo users take ready have in hand. And because to help them combat that kind of their identities. For instance, USAA when they set up their accounts into these apps are scanning only for the fraud, the companies say. customers who want to use biomet- a series of 1s and 0s that cannot be most basic characteristics of a per- In some cases, taking a pho- rics to log into the mobile app can used to recreate a person’s face. US- son’s face, none of the typical traits to can also offer an alternative to a either scan a thumbprint — the most AA says the biometric information is required of selfies — such as perfect more complicated process. For in- popular option — snap a photo or encrypted and wiped if a customer hairstyles — are needed. stance, Georgia says for some tax- use voice recognition. About 13 per- hasn’t logged in for a while. Some consumers may welcome payers who need to provide more cent of its 11 million members have And MorphoTrust USA, the com- opted to use the biometric log-in as pany providing the technology for of early April. the facial recognition pilot in Georgia MasterCard users who do not and a potential one in North Caroli- want to take a photo can use the na, said that after a person’s identity app to scan a fingerprint. is confirmed, the photos taken will Those alternatives may come in not be stored on the state’s servers. handy for people facing a potential Still, some of the hiccups con- security threat from someone very sumers may face are much more ba- close to them: their identical twin. sic. For example, it is not clear how For that subset of the popula- well the apps will hold up in cases tion who knows someone with a where people’s faces actually have face that looks just like their own, it changed — say because they gained may be safer to pass on the selfie weight, started wearing glasses or option and go with fingerprint veri- grew a beard. fication instead, says Catherine Mur- USAA says their app has worked chie, senior vice president of enter- after such minor changes, but re- prise security solutions at Master- minds users that they could always Card. switch to another method of au- Otherwise, that twin could end thentication. And MorphoTrust USA up going on a nice shopping spree. 04 | MONDAY 9 MAY 2016 CAMPUS PEC team enters Qatar Debate final akistan Education Centre (PEC) is working for the core purpose of academic excellence as well Pas helping its students develop lifelong skills in all aspects of their per- sonality grooming. The school offers the best learning environment for edu- cation and provides ample chances for the students to flourish in co-curricular activities. Qatar Debate is the platform worth mentioning in this regard where PEC students have proved their met- tle by winning team positions as well as ranking at top speakers throughout the competitions in the last few years arranged by Qatar Debate.