Iris Scan-Based Samsung Pass Offers Password Replacement

Samsung is hoping to push users beyond the password with its Note7 smartphone’s iris scanning capability and a new authentication system called Samsung Pass.

Announcing the latter in a statement, the company explained that Samsung Pass “can act as a master key for mobile banking services or website login on Samsung Internet, the default browser for Galaxy devices.” It builds upon the Web Sign-in feature that came along with Samsung Internet 4.0, and which was based on fingerprint scanning, with the new system revolving around the Note7’s iris scan feature.

The company says that “several leading banks” have already partnered with it to enable sign-in via Samsung Pass on their mobile apps, and that in the future it could be used to replace IDs and passwords on a range of apps. According to Samsung it could “even one day replace physical keys, like those we use to get inside our homes or start our car engines.”

The interoperability of Samsung Pass should be helped along by Samsung’s adherence to FIDO Alliance standards, and the company looks to be pushing the system intensively as it promotes the security of the Note7’s iris scanning, which it says “provides the ultimate level of privacy and security”.