New capability adds trusted identity verification to the start of customer interactions, helping organizations reduce fraud risk and improve the customer experience.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – June 23, 2026 – As AI-driven attacks and social engineering tactics become more sophisticated, organizations face increasing pressure to verify customers’ identity before sensitive interactions take place. PCI Pal® is introducing passkey customer authentication that will enable organizations to establish verified customer identity at the start of every interaction.
The new capability complements PCI Pal’s existing payment security solutions, extending protection to the identity verification stage of the customer journey and helping to reduce fraud risk and friction for both customers and agents. It enables businesses to establish trusted identity before sensitive conversations take place and maintain security throughout the customer journey, including the payment moment.
By replacing vulnerable knowledge-based authentication (KBA) methods, such as security questions and PINs, with passkey authentication, organizations can address a common vulnerability in the customer engagement security chain. Authentication is triggered during calls, chats, or other digital sessions, with identity confirmed before human agents, AI agents, or automated systems proceed with sensitive requests or payments. Using biometrics or device-bound credentials, customers verify their identity in seconds – without passwords, shared secrets, or reset delays – reducing friction while strengthening security from the start of each interaction.
“Organizations increasingly need to verify customer identity before any sensitive action takes place,” said Mufti Monim, CTO at PCI Pal. “By adding passkey authentication to our Secure Engagement Platform, organizations can establish trusted identity in seconds while reducing exposure to AI-driven fraud and social engineering attacks.”
Delivered through a unified architecture and single API framework, the capability integrates into both agent-assisted and automated systems including IVR and conversational AI bots. It provides a common authentication layer that can be consumed consistently across human and AI-led journeys, helping organizations reduce fraud risk, improve customer experience, and protect downstream interactions including payments.
