Heartbeat Authentication Wristbands May Become a Thing
The modern man doesn't have time to go to a store anymore and take money out of his wallet or swipe a card through the reader, so paying with a mobile or wearable device has become the new trend. Unfortunately, this leads to new security issues which customers and retailers have to deal with. Passwords are quickly becoming a thing of the past, and since we already have fingerprint identification and facial recognition technologies, why not take it a step further and use the heartbeat as a unique authentication method?
Created by Bionym, Nymi is a wristband prototype that can read your heartbeat and use it as a security measure to authenticate the transactions you make with your smartphone. The device embeds an electrocardiogram sensor, which measures your ECG first and then compares it to the one stored in its database, thus ensuring that the person making the transaction is actually you. After the authentication process is complete, the wristband gives your other devices the OK via wireless communication. Each time the wearable is removed, the customer needs to restart the identification process.
The device shows a lot of promise, and major companies, like Relay Ventures, MasterCard and Salesforce Ventures, have decided to invest in its development. Nymi isn't available on the market yet and is expected to arrive sometime this fall, but the company has already received around 10,000 pre-orders.
If you want to purchase it or need more details about the product, visit Bionym's official website.
