The future of simple, multi-factor authentication is taking shape and it is quite clear that voice is an important part of the mix. This observation was validated at VBC-New York in May as speakers from Wells Fargo, Tangerine Bank and USAA demonstrated mobile apps that enabled members, clients or customers to authenticate using their choice of voice, face, touch or a combination of the three.  The use of multiple biometrics to complement or augment other risk-mitigation measures satisfied each enterprise’s need for security and each customer’s desire for speed, simplicity and success.

This week witnesses a couple of new partnerships and platform introductions that will make it easier for companies to incorporate multiple biometrics into their real-time authentication measures:

Facebanx and SpeechPro: Facebanx offers a unique “hub for biometrics” which it launched in 2013. Its platform is designed for companies that want a single API for multiple factors and multilayered approaches to authentication. The partnership with SpeechPro adds voice and face-based authentication by integrating SpeechPro’s proprietary “VoiceKey.OnePass” technology into its mobile, PC and tablet platform solution. Over the years, Facebanx has also added ID document capture for enhanced KYC (Know Your Customer) tools.

Imageware Systems and ValidSoft: During ValidSoft‘s earnings call, CEO Paul Burmester made mention of a joint offering with cloud-based authentication service provider ImageWare Systems. Burmester noted that the decision to make ValidSoft the “preferred voice biometrics technology provider” means that ImageWare will be an important reseller of ValidSoft’s technology but more importantly, it provides a ready-made pipeline as ImageWare has existing contracts with customers that have voice biometrics baked into development or deployment plans.

As more evidence that multi-layered, multifactor authentication plans are poised to include voice biometrics, the latest rev of its BioID’s OAuth service has launched and it is, in BioID’s words, specifically designed to “provide a simple biometric authentication service, which can be used by standard OAuth 2.0 client implementations to let their users log in using biometrics.” High level descriptions along with sample code and technical data can be found here. One of the explicit advantages is that adherence to the specs of the OAuth service offers “privacy by design”, with biometrics stored anonymously and completely separate from any personally identifiable information.

These activities signal an upwelling of interest in multifactor authentication by enterprises and mobile app developers alike. The solutions come in the form of partnerships that benefit from new open standards that support incorporation many different biometrics, as needed. Agile solution providers form partnerships on an as needed basis as well to fulfill on real world requirements.

Categories: Intelligent Authentication, Articles

Tags: Voice biometrics, multi-factor authentication, partnerships