The British bank HSBC introduced Voice ID voice recognition technology in 2016, in a move to increase the security of telephone banking transactions. According to the bank, last year alone, Voice ID prevented the theft of almost £249 million, US$364 million, from its customers. The number of telephone frauds dropped 50% compared to the previous year.

As Kerri-Anne Mills, head of customer service at HSBC UK, said: “These types of scams are sophisticated and it’s a constant challenge to stay ahead of the scammers, but this is promising,” referring to the system voice recognition from the bank. “We saw a 50% drop in phone fraud complaints year over year.”

HSBC's Voice ID system has identified 43 fraudulent calls and prevented the theft of £981 million, or $1,3 billion, since 2016, according to the bank.

How HSBC's voice recognition system works

Voice ID has replaced the need for passwords made up of random numbers and security questions. The customer only needs to register a voice fingerprint, and when they call the bank to make a transaction, they need to say a short phrase first, which is then compared with the original recording.

According to HSBC, Voice ID analyzes more than 100 behavioral and physical voice traits, such as the speed at which a customer speaks and how they emphasize words. The bank says its voice recognition system can distinguish whether a caller is trying to imitate a customer's voice or playing a recording, but it can also recognize a customer if they sound hoarse, for example.

The risks of biometric data

But while the increased security is something to celebrate, there is concern that hackers could bypass voice recognition technology. Worse still, there is the possibility that hackers could gain access to voice fingerprint databases.

As Nick Maynard, chief analyst at Juniper Research, put it: “The risk with biometric dice “The general thing is that you can’t change these characteristics. You can’t change your fingerprint or your face. If someone has access to this data, you can’t change it. So this type of information becomes very risky.”

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. ZDNet

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