Amazon lets shoppers pay with a phrase

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 29 Oct 2009 at 16:31

Amazon has launched a new online payment service that lets users pay for goods on the internet simply by entering a phrase and a PIN number.

Dubbed PayPhrase, the service lets you link a two-word phrase and a four-digit PIN number to the credit card and shipping details already stored on your Amazon account. Users can create their own phrase or use the one provided by Amazon.

Each PayPhrase is unique, and can vary in length from only four to 100 characters.

PayPhrases can be used to buy goods on Amazon and a rather thin selection of other US retailers. The system is not yet available in the UK.

There's a concern that people usually use very dumb phrases

The system will naturally raise security concerns, especially as Amazon is encouraging parents to supply their children with PayPhrases and PINs, which are given a set spending allowance each month.

Amazon is also encouraging customers to create different PayPhrases for different shipping addresses, further increasing the temptation to write those key phrases and PIN numbers down somewhere.

Security experts believe there are other dangers to the system. "There's a concern that people usually use very dumb phrases [for passwords], often dictionary words that people can guess," says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

He's also worried that people will use the same PIN number for their PayPhrase as they do on their bank cards, making them a prime target for phishing attacks. "Numbers are even harder to remember than words," he cautions.

Amazon insists the system will make online shopping easier. "PayPhrase solves the headache of trying to keep track of all the different usernames and passwords people use to shop on various sites across the web," says Amazon's PayPhrase general manager Matt Williams, who bizarrely reveals that his own PayPhrase is "Good to Go" in the Amazon press release.

"With PayPhrase all you need is one phrase and one PIN to pay online,” he adds.

Now all you've got to do is guess his PIN then...