Barclays has just announced the introduction of voice recognition technology to verify its customers – joining other banks such as HSBC, and Santander. This is a step in the right direction, writes Matt Peachey, EMEA VP at Pindrop, a company that offers anti-fraud and authentication software for contact centres; but more needs to be done to fully protect financial institutions against the growing threat of phone fraud.
This move by Barclays follows the likes of HSBC and Santander using voice biometrics to secure their customers’ identity and we can expect to see a lot more banks and financial services using biometric technologies to augment other security technologies.
Banks understand the importance of implementing these new technologies as fraud loss can be damaging – both in terms of cost and customer confidence. Our recent State of Fraud Report, which analysed over 10 million calls made to financial institutions in the UK and US, found that in 2015, one in 700 calls to UK financial institutions are fraudulent, demonstrating the need for banks to take action. But it is essential that all angles are covered. Without multiple layers of security covering all channels, from face to face, to online, to the telephone, fraudsters are able to manipulate particular points of exposure.
Voice recognition does help to identify true customers, but fraudsters have many techniques which help them bypass this layer of security. Distortive or synthesised noises for example can alter the sound of a voice, making it hard to verify and accurately define the user as fraudulent. In these situations, banks must revert back to traditional knowledge based authentication questions, which may have been socially engineered or obtained through other data breaches.
Phoneprinting technology can identify specific components about each call such as the location a call is coming from, the device, whether it’s a mobile or landline and whether the phone has been used to call the company before. Combined this can aid in detecting fraudulent activity before it becomes an issue.
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