Finally, all those selfies you’ve taken might yield more of a reward than 17 likes across social media and an approving glance from the office creep.

The fine folk of MasterCard are about to revolutionise the password game, the conventional ‘password123’ set to be replaced by a photo of your mug and a fingerprint verification process.

The decision was announced earlier this week in Barcelona with NBC News reporting as follows:

Ann Cairns, head of international markets for MasterCard, told CNBC that biometric checks had been trialed in the U.S. and the Netherlands, and that the company will be launching them in the U.K. soon…

Biometric solutions could include facial recognition, fingerprint scanners or checking the customer’s heartbeat using wearable technology such as smartwatches…

The system could lead to increased online sales as passwords are replaced with a more convenient solution. According to a survey by MasterCard, 53 percent of shoppers forget passwords at least once a week, wasting more than 10 minutes to reset their accounts and leading to a third of shoppers abandoning their purchase.

We’ve all been there, that moment the checkout cart asks for a login and the brain suffers a short circuit. As the panic sets in so does the realisation that you’re about to spend money you don’t have and presto, MasterCard are left lamenting what could have been.

Is this going to lead to the new #purchaselfie hashtag? We can only hope not.

[source:nbcnews]