Mastercard Lauds Apple Card Security

Apple Card, a new kind of credit card created by Apple, is being applauded by Mastercard for its enhanced security, simplicity, transparency and privacy, CNBC reported on Tuesday (Aug. 20). The new iPhone-integrated credit card has teamed with both Goldman Sachs and Mastercard.

Customers can apply for the card through the iPhone Wallet app and immediately use it in stores, on websites and for in-app purchases. The no-fee card offers increased security while encouraging customers to pay less interest with an easy-to-understand view of spending. 

The Apple Card doesn’t come with a 16-digit number like other credit cards and users are encouraged to avoid swiping. 

“Not having a card number on the physical card, if the consumer chooses to get that, helps [with security] certainly because somebody can’t just write that down and take it,” Mastercard North America President Craig Vosburg said on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.”

Vosburg said the card combines “Mastercard’s technology in conjunction with Apple and Goldman Sachs” to create a “new kind of consumer experience.”

Users get a one-time-use number in the Wallet app. “The real key to the enhanced security here is happening behind the scenes where we’re tokenizing the card credentials,” he said, adding the number is scrambled into a code only recognized by Mastercard and Goldman Sachs.

“We know where it’s meant to be used. We know it’s meant to be used with that Apple device and if it shows up somewhere else, we know it’s been compromised and we can kill it,” Vosburg said.

The new offering hopes to keep Apple users loyal and make it harder to switch to Android.

The Apple Card will also be available as a physical, titanium card. At the core of the new Apple offering lies Mastercard’s token and M Chip technologies, which store the card on digital devices without exposing sensitive data. Mastercard wants to enable token services on all cards by 2020.