Startup Talk: Mastercard To Pioneer ‘Selfies’ For Online Payment Transactions

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MASTERCARD TO PIONEER ‘SELFIES’ FOR ONLINE PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS
MasterCard announced this week that it is pioneering the use of your “selfie” or fingerprint to make an online payment transaction with the launch of trial programs in Europe and the U.S.

Starting this week in the Netherlands, International Card Services and ABN AMRO cardholders will trial the technology now through the end of November. Next month, a trial will begin with First Tech Federal Credit Union employees in the U.S.

Mastercard said this technology could replace the need to remember and type in passwords to complete purchases when shopping online. Instead, consumers would have the option to simply blink into the camera on their smartphone or use their fingerprints to authenticate transactions.

“Passwords are a pain, they’re easy to forget, they waste our time and they’re not very safe. Biometrics are making online transactions as secure and simple as purchases in person,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of Mastercard’s enterprise security solutions.

NASA BEGINS CONSTRUCTION OF ‘HURRICANE-SEEING’ SATELLITES
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina formed in the Atlantic, NASA has begun construction of its next-generation hurricane-observing satellite mission underway at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission, a constellation of eight microsatellites, will improve hurricane forecasting by making measurements of ocean surface winds in and near the eye wall of tropical cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes throughout their life cycle.

CYGNSS will allow scientists to probe the inner core of hurricanes from space frequently for the first time, using both direct and reflected signals from existing GPS satellites to obtain estimates of surface wind speeds over the ocean. These measurements will advance forecasting methods by providing data that can lead to better predictions of hurricane tracks, intensities and storm surges.

MANY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IGNORE ‘BYOD’ SMARTPHONE RULES AT WORK
Nearly 40% of employees at agencies with rules prohibiting personal “Bring Your Own Device” smartphone use at work say the rules have little to no impact on their behavior, according to a new report released by mobile security firm Lookout.

The report, found here, is based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. federal employees. It finds that not only are federal employees using personal devices to access potentially sensitive government data, a significant number of them engage in behaviors that could put the device and, in turn, the data it contains or accesses at risk.

“The cybersecurity practices, or lack thereof, of the federal government are under the microscope in the wake of the OPM hack. Yet, hardly anyone is scrutinizing the unsanctioned use of mobile devices that could be putting government data at risk,” said Bob Stevens, Vice President of Federal Systems at Lookout.

STUDENTS, GOVERNOR GET TASTE OF CODING AT CLINTON CENTER
Hundreds of students got a taste of computer coding at the Clinton Presidential Center Saturday, days before thousands more students begin taking high school classes on the same subject. Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his granddaughter Ella Beth, who starred in a campaign commercial working on a computer, were on hand at the event.

NASA AWARDS $6 MILLION FOR MINORITY-FOCUSED UNIVERSITY STEM PROGRAM
NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has selected five universities for cooperative agreement awards totaling $6 million to provide educator training and expand course offerings in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Four universities were selected to receive MUREP Community College Curriculum Improvement (MC3I) grants, which provide up to$250,000 per year for a maximum of three years. The schools will work to increase the number of STEM classes available at minority serving community colleges. For more information on the award process, visit here.