Oberthur develops the first worldwide embedded secure element to be certified by Visa and MasterCard for biometric payment

OT (Oberthur Technologies), a leading global provider of embedded security software products and services, announced that its embedded Secure Element, PEARL by OT®, is the first eSE worldwide to be certified by Visa, MasterCard and Amex for biometric-compliant payment applets (VISA VMPA v1.4, MasterCard MCM v1.1 and AMEX v2.0), as well as by OSPT Alliance (CIPURSE™ V2) for urban transport applications and value added services. With these new certifications granted to PEARL 800K Classic v4, OT confirms the position of PEARL by OT® as the most advanced multi-application eSE on the market.

Launched in January 2016, PEARL 800K Classic v4 adds to the family of PEARL by OT® already deployed worldwide in 225Mu+ flagship smartphones. PEARL by OT® offers an unattained level of biometric-compliant certified applications, the largest memory on the market and the latest NFC application for urban mobility services: CIPURSE V2. It enables smarphone makers to deploy new contactless services certified by key payment schemes worldwide and transport authorities of the largest cities in the world. This unique multi-application platform also supports access control, biometrics, secure storage use-cases and value added services.

With the growing trend of smartphones being used as payment devices, storing and processing sensitive biometric data, or improving the urban mobility experience, increasing concerns regarding users’ authentication, data protection and privacy are arising. And smartphones are only the first wave of connected objects to be secured. To be effective, security systems must be embedded within connected objects and equipment. PEARL by OT® is designed to protect credentials and data applications against software and hardware attacks and is continuously upgraded to answer the needs of Original Equipment Manufacturers and their service partners.

All the newly certified applications are now being deployed in currently issued PEARL 800K Classic v4 and can also be remotely downloaded to PEARL 800K Classic v4 eSE already on the field. The latest Visa, MasterCard and Amex applets allow the replacement of PIN by fingerprint verification, which provides a more convenient user-experience for contactless payments. For urban transport use cases, the CIPURSETM-certified stamp ensures the interoperability with the infrastructures which have already adopted CIPURSETM in major cities.

Source: www.oberthur.com