The UK’s Lloyds Banking Group has partnered with Microsoft to enable secure login for customers using Windows Hello biometric authentication.
While the bank was relatively slow to come around to the Apple Pay mobile payment platform in 2015, it’s evidently eager to be at the forefront of new security technologies like the biometric authentication capabilities of Microsoft’s latest Windows operating system. It is just a tentative step in this direction, however, with the bank planning a pilot program to test the system in the later half of this year, with participating Windows 10 users able to log in to their Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, and Halifax accounts using fingerprint or facial recognition.
In a statement announcing the pilot test, Lloyds emphasized the security of Windows Hello, noting that its facial recognition system uses infrared cameras, and that biometric data is stored locally, not in an external server that could be hacked. Lloyds Group Digital & Transformation COO Gill Wylie commented that she is “delighted we are the first banking organization in the UK to work with Microsoft on Windows Hello, and excited to see how our customers use this feature.”
Lloyd’s interest in Windows Hello biometric security comes amid growing hardware support for the technology, with a wide range of devices now available that allow Windows Hello functionality.
–
April 17, 2017 – by Alex Perala
Follow Us