In the age of AI and Deepfakes, is Voice ID secure?

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

You’ve likely seen stories on the news or social media about deepfake videos. In deepfake videos, the creator mimics the face or voice of a public figure or celebrity using artificial intelligence (AI). These videos are made to look like the public figure is doing or saying something that they are not. There’s even a TikTok channel (DeepTomCruise) that contains videos an AI expert created showing a seemingly realistic Tom Cruise dancing, traveling, and even cleaning.

This is raising concerns that fraudsters could use AI to impersonate a customer and talk their way into accessing their biometrically secure data such as financial accounts. The short answer is no, it’s not that simple – especially when talking about voice biometrics such as Voice ID.

Voice ID is an authentication technology that creates a unique voiceprint when you call Customer Care. If you are enrolled in this complimentary service, when you call us, it will match your voiceprint and quickly identify you. It analyzes the millions of factors that make the voice unique, which includes physical characteristics – the size and shape of the larynx or nasal cavity, for example – and behavioral characteristics – rhythm of speech, intonation, accent, etc. and other characteristics the human ear can’t decipher. While behaviors can be easily mimicked, physical voice characteristics cannot.

When someone uses a computer to synthesize a voice, there are always tiny, telltale signs that allow Voice ID to detect the minute differences between a natural voice and a synthetic voice, and deny fraudsters the access they’re hoping to achieve.

The security of Voice ID is among the strongest in the industry; however, statistically, no authentication tool is 100% fraud-proof. While the fraud landscape is changing, it is still much more resource intensive for a fraudster to break into an account using a synthesized voice than it is for them to attack via other authentication methods, such as accessing PINs, passwords, and knowledge-based security questions. After all, fraudsters like quick and easy wins, not something that takes a lot of time and technology to be effective.

At Kennebunk Savings, we are confident that we are offering our customers the best possible security and fraud prevention while still ensuring accounts are easy for real customers to access. We partner with Nuance, a leading expert in the biometrics industry, to closely monitor the latest scam technology and make updates to our security systems and protocols, as needed.

If you have questions about Voice ID or would like to enroll in this service (at no cost to you), please contact our Customer Care team at 800-339-6573.