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TOM HARWOOD,
CHIEF PRODUCT
OFFICER AND CO-
FOUNDER, AERIANDI
A
s it stands, it is estimated that
between 30% to 50% of all fraud
incidents are initiated with a phone
call, meaning telephone agents in contact
centres are particularly vulnerable to social
engineering and manipulation. Web-based
security measures have evolved much faster
than those for voice and telephone in recent
years. For the web, there’s always the option
of multi-factor authentication. There’s also
behavioural monitoring as a preventative
measure and identity-based management, all
improving degrees of data security. The same
is not true, however, for phone-based contact,
which is still a poor relation to online.
Voice is an area where biometric security will
thrive in 2018. Research shows over 95% of
fraudulent call attempts are repeat attempts
by the same group of organised criminals.
This has allowed authorities around the
world to build up a global database of
known fraudsters and their voice signatures.
A voice biometrics solution will compare all
callers against this database and quickly
identify fraudsters. In these instances, it
doesn’t matter how skilled a fraudster is
at social engineering or manipulation,
the agent will immediately be notified so
they can quarantine the perpetrator from
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INTELLIGENTCIO
any sensitive information. An additional
benefit is that the entire biometric process
is completely transparent, meaning callers
will not even know biometric verification is
taking place unless an issue is raised with
caller authenticity.
In 2018, we will see more contact centres
combining voice biometrics with fraud
detection. Fraud detection on voice looks
at more than the voice print of the user; it
considers a whole host of other parameters.
For example, is the phone number being
used a legitimate one? Is it a number
associated with organised crime? Increasing
phone fraud attacks on UK banks come from
overseas. Voice fraud technology has been
proven to protect against this as well as
domestic threats.
Recent advancements in biometrics
technology have been widely shown to
significantly reduce fraud, but biometrics
alone is not the whole solution. No security
technology is 100% fool-proof. Like any
security measure, voice biometrics works
best when combined with a range of
other security processes. Intelligent fraud
detection needs to be utilised so that
criminals who may not yet have been
flagged on the global database can
still be identified. Intelligent fraud
detection notifies the call centre
agent of the call’s overall risk score. It
does this by scoring all calls against
a number of key risk factors such as
audio characteristics, geo-location,
number reputation and frequency of
calls. Within the first 30 seconds, the
agent will receive the risk score and a
set of custom instructions on how to
further authenticate the call.
Combining several different
technology-based fraud detection
systems, instead of relying on
outdated security questions for
authentication, creates the widest
possible protection for customers
and their data. 2018 will see a
widespread introduction of effective
voice biometrics systems, ideally
alongside additional measures
such as intelligent fraud detection.
This will bolster telephone identity
and verification security, whilst
simultaneously improving the
customer journey. It may not solve
the issue completely, but it will be a
step in the right direction in 2018.
www.intelligentcio.com
EDITOR’S QUESTION