Mastercard plans to eliminate credit card numbers and switch to tokenization technology to reduce the risk of information leakage

ChainCatcher news, according to the Singapore United Morning Post, Mastercard is planning to eliminate traditional credit card numbers and adopt "authentication technology" (Tokenization) to combat online fraud. This technology replaces sensitive data such as credit card numbers with randomly generated numerical sequences (tokens) to reduce the risk of data breaches. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach stated that the company will expand the use of this technology and replace traditional passwords with biometric identification (such as fingerprints or facial scans). This measure is in response to the increasingly serious problem of online payment fraud, which is expected to exceed $91 billion by 2028.

Miebach pointed out that the conventional thinking in the past was to protect data and transactions with passwords to ensure security; however, this approach has gradually become a security vulnerability. But "authentication technology" replaces sensitive information with "tokens," making it impossible to decipher real information even if the data is illegally accessed by hackers. Furthermore, "authentication technology" also helps businesses comply with data protection regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Mastercard stated that by the end of this century, all e-commerce transactions in Europe are expected to be replaced by "tokens."