Is voice verification more secure?

[img_assist|nid=7949|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=85]Accessing bank accounts over the phone is found insecure with UK consumers, and current identity verification methods are considered to have many gaps, the information provided by Harris Interactive research.

More than 500 adults took part in the poll commissioned by the voice identification firm, Nuance Communications. The results showed that 91 percent of customers are very worried with their account data fraud while 9 percent responded that there is "no concern" at all.

There are enough methods to verify identity when logging into account like passwords, PINs and security questions and most of account holders use them. But 58 percent of respondents admitted that they often forgot the information.

This fact makes them search the easiest ways to remember the necessary verification data. So they write down the information, re-use their passwords in multiple accounts or use publicly accessible information like birth dates and mother's maiden names for challenge questions. All this simplifies the work of fraudsters to get access to the funds of consumers.
55 percent of the respondents found voice authorization technology to be more convenient and efficient, saying that they "would prefer to do business" with a firm offering the system.

The system is believed to be more secure than PIN-based systems and safer than security questions and this is an opinion of 47 percent of responders. Speaker verification is found to be a secure way to protect account access with 83 percent of the surveyed and 74% would already be "likely" or "somewhat likely" to use it.

"According to Cabinet Offices figures, in the UK in 2006, approximately 80,000 cases of identity and impersonation fraud were identified, costing the economy £1.5 billion," says Ian Turner, GM, Northern Emea, Nuance. "It is no surprise then that consumers are looking for improved security and view speaker verification as more secure than traditional means most often used today."