Alipay adds fingerprint authentication to mobile wallet

image of a finger showing clearly the fingerprint biometric technology

Alipay customers making purchases and transfers in Alipay’s mobile application, Alipay Wallet, no longer need to enter a password – the company will be using technology from Nok Nok Labs to add fingerprint authentication to the app.

Alipay will use NNL’s S3 Authentication Suite to enable secure online online payments via the Fingerprint Sensor (FPS) technology on the Samsung Galaxy S5. Nok Nok Labs, a founding member of the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance – the industry consortium implementing high standards for online authentication – will bring the Alipay Wallet in line with emerging FIDO standards.

“Working with Alipay, a major player in the global online commerce, to provide an easy, secure experience for their customers is tremendous validation for the FIDO movement,” said Phillip Dunkelberger, President & CEO, Nok Nok Labs. Alipay is one of the first companies to implement FIDO technology for secure payments authentication.

The FIDO Alliance is an industry consortium launched in February 2013 to address the lack of interoperability among strong authentication devices and the problems users face creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords. The alliance hopes that Alibaba’s influence will encourage the adoption of FIDO technology by other companies.

“With their huge local and global influence, Alibaba is a very important addition to the FIDO ecosystem and a welcome member of the FIDO Alliance board of directors. The board will benefit greatly from Alibaba’s experience and influence throughout Asia,” said FIDO Alliance president Michael Barrett. “Pivotal organizations, like Alibaba, can rapidly impact adoption of FIDO authentication by facilitating strong authentication for its hundreds of millions of users.”

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