Voice recognition to be used for bank account access – but is it safe?

BANKS are to replace passwords and security questions with voice recognition for customer phone queries.

It is part of a move to biometric ‘body banking’ that links access to a person’s voice, fingerprint or eye.

But experts fear criminals are already working on ways to defeat the system – from using voice recordings to creating rubber fingertips with an impression of someone else’s finger.

And civil liberties campaigners are concerned such technologies are aiding the rise of a ‘Big Brother’ society.

First Direct telephone bank and its parent firm HSBC are bringing the voice recognition technology to their 15million customers.

Barclays already offers the system to some of its wealthiest customers and plans to roll it out more widely.

The move by HSBC and First Direct also involves fingerprint recognition. The latest Apple iPhones incorporate fingerprint sensors to allow users to unlock the phones. This same sensor will allow them to link to their bank account. The technology has been presented by the banking giants as offering better convenience, speed and security for customers.

The change may also be a cost-cutting move, as the banks will be able to use computers instead of call centre staff. HSBC UK’s Francesca McDonagh said: ‘The launch of voice and touch ID makes it even quicker and easier for customers to access their bank account, using the most secure form of password technology, the body.’

The bank claims the technology is so sophisticated it can recognise a voice even if the customer has a cold or there is a lot of background noise.

But Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, said: ‘Of course such systems can be defeated by recordings of voices … There are things you can do to mitigate the risk but it comes down to designing a system well … and adapting it to threats as they evolve.’

He added: ‘The acid test will be whether fraud victims are promptly and courteously made good, or whether the bank will adopt an attitude of “our technology is wonderful so if you complain you must be mistaken or lying”.

‘That is what has happened time and again with new banking technologies.’