Lenovo working with Intel, PayPal and Synaptics to bring Fingerprint Authenticated Payments to the PC

Today, Lenovo announced a collaboration with Intel, PayPal and Synaptics to bring secure online payments to the PCs using fingerprints. The collaboration will enable Lenovo customers to be able to authenticate to online FIDO-enabled services like PayPal by using a fingerprint instead of a password. It makes use of the built-in security features of 7th Gen Intel Core processors; hardware and design expertise of Lenovo; the encryption and biometric features of Synaptics’ fingerprint sensor; and the payment processing and unique authentication ecosystem of PayPal.

• The 7^th Gen Intel Core processors with built Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) lay the groundwork for robust, hardware-protected biometric authentication securing users’ FIDO credentials and biometric information.
• The Synaptics Natural ID fingerprint sensor features enterprise-level security with TLS 1.2 encryption. Synaptics’ Natural ID Fingerprint Solution is secured by SentryPoint features, including TLS 1.2 encryption and anti-spoofing algorithms.
• PayPal leverages its unique authentication ecosystem to continue making payments more secure and convenient.

Lenovo PCs using Natural ID and Intel Core processors achieve this by quickly and securely capturing user credentials, which are encrypted and stored in the hardware, making them less susceptible to malware attacks.

“The average user has to remember passwords for many different accounts, from PC log-in, email to online shopping. We wanted to help change that by freeing users from the burden of remembering complex passwords by providing a simple authentication solution,” said Johnson Jia, senior vice president, PC & Smart Device Business Group, Lenovo.  “We’re excited to be the first PC company to partner with Intel, PayPal and Synaptics to bring users simpler and safer online authentication based on the released FIDO standards, through fingerprint readers designed for improved security on our laptops starting with the Yoga 910 convertible.”

I hope more PC manufactures will follow Lenovo in bringing fingerprint based secure payments solutions to Windows PCs.