Theres no doubt that there is a lot of really innovative
and cool technology in our world.Prior to working with EVS, I worked in
telecommunications.I used to love
the opportunity to play with the latest and greatest mobile gadgets on the
market.When I see a phone screen that
scrolls based on the movement of my eyes, I think its a little freaky and
really awesome all at the same time.Theres no doubt that things that were once only imagined in movies, are
becoming a reality today.
It is also great to see this type of innovation and
ingenuity in the fraud prevention
industry.A method of verification
that is becoming increasing popular, and will continue to experience rapid
growth, is voice biometrics.Essentially,
a biometrics company will do an analysis of an individuals voice to identity
their specific speaking patterns and unique differentiators.This voice information is then stored so
that the users voice can be authenticated in the future to login to their
account or access a software platform.There is no doubt that this technology is cutting edge, and it appears
to be much more secure than the traditional username and password combo that
customers are accustomed to in putting.
An issue that companies struggle with is how to authenticate
that a voice belongs to a user at the point of enrollment or account
creation.To assess this problem,
many companies will do a verification of the users information before they
take a sample of their voice, so a user will login and input their name,
address and possibly additional information, such as last four of SSN or
DOB.The company may then use a third party
identity verification company, such as EVS, to ensure that the information
is accurate.If the information is
accurate, the user will then move forward with voice biometrics.While I applaud companies for taking a
step towards fraud prevention, I think there is a still a gaping hole in the
process.
What happens if John Doe gets my name, address and SSN and
provides all valid information?ABC Company then allows them to login to my account, not only at point
of enrollment, but on a continual basis, via his voice.This situation could be avoided if
proper authentication was included at the very beginning of the process.I would recommend a solution called Dynamic
KBA (Knowledge Based Authentication) or out of wallet questions, that could
be posed at account creation.These are simple, non-intrusive questions that only the user could
answer to validate their identity, and at the same time, it would bridge gap in
verification and authentication.It protects the user from potential identity theft and helps to protect
the company from lost revenue.
[Contributed by Shea Allen, Account Specialist]
