“Please enter your username and password,” this is a common phrase that elicits an irritated groan. It’s an obstacle we all must overcome, in order to accomplish our current task at hand. Next thing you know, you’re cursing at the monitor because that long series of letters, numbers, and special characters completely escapes you, eventually freezing your account.

That small task officially turned into one annoying tangent, forcing you to change your password yet again. The best part is, you will probably forget that awesome new code in a few short weeks. It’s a never-ending vicious cycle, or so we thought.

MasterCard is taking the cognitive function out of the equation, relying less on your brain, and more on your physical self. The new MasterCard app will discontinue the long, difficult passcodes, favoring a selfie or a fingerprint instead.

While it appears easy, and stress free, the “selfie key,” initially sounds questionable. Anyone can obtain a photo that isn’t theirs, and utilize it as they see fit, hence why MTV’s “Catfish” is still on the air.

MasterCard has a safeguard put in place to protect from identity fraud, requiring the user to blink when taking the photo. According to CNN this requirement will verify the legitimacy of the photo, ensuring that it’s a new selfie, rather than an uploaded image.

These new forms of security might be the things we need to ensure proper protection.

“The average person has 19 passwords – but 1 in 3 does not make them strong enough,” this statistic gathered by Sophos shows just how fragile our online presence is. Our information is essentially free for the taking, because our passcodes do not stand up against relentless hackers.

Despite attempts to vary passcodes, and complicate them with special characters, and uppercase letters, passwords fail to do their job when an individual cannot remember it. The fingerprint scan, or selfie key, solves this constant battle, allowing for an effortless login.

Realistically, this option is safer, and smarter than using a pet’s name, or a suggested code from Safari. Those codes are easily cracked, whereas fingerprint scanners are more difficult to hack. While fingerprint scanners aren’t perfect, smartphones are constantly getting updated, perfecting this feature.

Stop worrying about getting locked out, because your new passcode is as easy as blinking. Let your brain worry about things that really matter, like actually paying that MasterCard bill.

Gone are the days of playing password roulette, trying to find the code that fits. So long as you have your phone and yourself, the MasterCard mobile app has you covered.

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