ANZ to use voice prints for mobile authentication

ANZ to use voice prints for mobile authentication

ANZ is to pilot the use of voice biometrics on mobile devices to automatically authorise high value payments.

The Australian bank is beginning a trial of the technology, provided by Nuance Communications, with bank staff and selected customers using the Grow by ANZ mobile app.

ANZ is aiming for a full-scale roll out by the middle of the year. The biometric authentication technique will enable customers to authorise payments above the current ceiling of $1000 from their mobile.

Managing director customer experience and digital channels, Peter Dalton says a person’s voice has five to ten times as many security points than other methods such as fingerprints.

"The technology is now so advanced that it can tell the difference between identical twins or even a voice recording," he says. “We also know that people are becoming more comfortable with using their voice to do basic commands on their devices, so we see this is a natural extension of current technology and we are expecting this to be a popular enhancement of our mobile apps.”

Comments: (1)

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 10 April, 2017, 04:37Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

I think the discussions about the security of biometrics is still continuing at the FBI, since someone stole their biometrics database a couple of years ago. Reverting to username/password for access to the accounts didn't mitigate the fact that border guards in less than friendly countries would always be able to identify the agents.

However, I take the point that The Enemy Within is as much a threat as the Barbarians At The Gates. The real answer, is to have a 2FA system, where the second factor is guaranteed to be unique and, yet, can be replaced if it's lost or stolen. Also, data-at-rest should be protected with an encryption key which is unknown to anyone but the authentication system. I would suggest that a Linkedin post entitled "The Choice of a Second Authentication Factor" will fill in the missing pieces.

 

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