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HSBC Voice Authentication Bypassed in BBC Test

posted by n1 on Saturday May 20 2017, @10:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the voices-in-my-head dept.

butthurt writes:

BBC News reports:

Security software designed to prevent bank fraud has been fooled by a BBC reporter and his twin. BBC Click reporter Dan Simmons set up an HSBC account and signed up to the bank's voice ID authentication service.

HSBC says the system is secure because each person's voice is "unique". But the bank let Dan Simmons' non-identical twin, Joe, access the account via the telephone after he mimicked his brother's voice. The bank said it would "review" ways to make the ID system more sensitive following the BBC investigation.

[...] Although the breach did not allow Joe Simmons to withdraw money, he was able to access balances and recent transactions, and was offered the chance to transfer money between accounts.

Additional coverage: The Inquirer

Related story: Automated Voice Imitation Can Fool Humans and Machines

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @10:57PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @10:57PM (#512769)

    SCOTT: Run it through analyser. Question. Is it or is it not the Captain's voice?
    COMPUTER: Negative. A close copy.
    SCOTT: A voice duplicator?
    COMPUTER: Ninety eight percent probability.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:25PM (#512783)
      Computer recognize Janeway π α and self destruct the ship.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:00PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:00PM (#512771) Journal

    This is worse for those with evil twins.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:06PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:06PM (#512774)

      I know. right? Evil twins could land one high paying job working 80 hours a week and split the work between them and only work 40 hours a week. Think of the employment fraud!!

  • (Score: 2) by Moru on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:13PM (1 child)

    by Moru (1248) on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:13PM (#512777)

    What happens when they have adjusted it to be more sensitive? Will no one get access to their bank account any more? :-)

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:20PM (#512781)

      Voice recognition is not the reason you won't get any money. You won't get any money after you train your African replacement and you are laid off.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:37PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:37PM (#512789) Journal

    The security comes from that we, the management with nice suits and diplomas says it secure!
    Meanwhile our slav^H^Hengineers will be told to "review" the system.. quickly.

    A voice is surely unique, just not that unique..
    And the identification algorithm must have some tolerance margins which will chip away even more uniqueness.

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:42PM (1 child)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:42PM (#512790)

    "They say Sinaloa is nice this time of year." [rollingstone.com]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @03:54AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @03:54AM (#513303)

      Great story, thanks. It's always the same thing isn't it, the law is for the little people and the too-big-to-fail fuckers are given a get-out-of-jail-free card.

  • (Score: 1) by butthurt on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:44PM

    by butthurt (6141) on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:44PM (#512792) Journal

    Imitating People's Speech Patterns Precisely Could Bring Trouble [soylentnews.org]
    Adobe Voco 'Photoshop-for-Voice' Causes Concern [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Sunday May 21 2017, @05:52PM

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Sunday May 21 2017, @05:52PM (#513078)

    I don't see how a system could determine between a high quality recording and a real voice.

    --
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