Nuance Communications has launched a new suite of security services called Nuance Gatekeeper, applying advanced biometric-based solutions to the challenges of multichannel authentication and fraud prevention. It is a cloud-based offering, designed to operate at enterprise-grade scale by applying a range of biometrics, artificial intelligence, speech processing and speech analytics with very fast response times.

“Intelligent Assistance requires Intelligent Authentication” (“IA requires IAuth”). That has been one of Opus Research’s watchwords for several years. In the beginning we equated “IAuth” with “multi-factor, multi-layered, risk-aware and continuous” solutions and, since our focus started with phones and the voice channel, we expected voice biometrics to be one of key factors.

With Gatekeeper, Nuance has integrated resources that fulfill on all of the attributes described above. It is:

• Multi-factor ✓
  Most organizations treat the smartphone, tablet or PC that an individual is using as “something you have.” Great strides have been made by the likes of the FiDo Alliance to transform these smart endpoints into “trusted devices” much like the physical tokens that RSA and others provide to support “enterprise-grade security. Gatekeeper also can operate in a text-dependent mode where an individual says a passphrase that is “something you know”. Yet a real differentiator for Gatekeeper is its multi-biometric approach, combining voice and behavioral biometrics in a friction-free way.
• Multi-layered ✓
  Gatekeeper incorporates layers of security across both voice and digital channels. Its Lightning Engine™, provides high-confidence for security scores based on very short utterances and it is layered over or around a multiplicity of other authentication methods according to rules that enterprise security executives define, including escalation to a fraud specialist.
• Risk aware ✓
  Leveraging Nuance’s long-standing experience and investment in artificial intelligence, speech processing and speech analytics as well as integration “in The Cloud” with existing risk management and security systems
• Continuous ✓
  Because conversations with customers take place over time, through multiple devices and channels, the support of strong authentication and trust amounts adds continuity and trust to the customer experience.

Trusted Links: Security Is The New CX

Nuance’s announcement places emphasis on strong authentication and fraud loss. Indeed, these are the financial considerations that build an ROI for investment in biometrics and related technologies. Yet the real value comes from another dimensions in the Conversational Commerce dynamic. That is “Trusted Links.” For omnichannel (or “optichannel”) conversations to take place over time, both the customer and the enterprise has to have strong confidence in the fact that the person or brand they are communicating with is the person the he or she claims to be. There are time consuming and difficult ways to do this (i.e. remembering passwords) and there are effortless ways (simply making authentication part of the conversation). Gatekeeper supports the second approach and, in so doing, is taking a major step toward popularizing Auth through real-world implementations.

Uptake should be brisk because it delivers on the promise of cloud-based resources to combine elements of AI, analytics and biometric authentication to simplify strong user authentication. The next steps are for enterprises to bring equally effortless methods for customers to “enroll” themselves into the system. A number of banks, financial services companies, healthcare and membership organizations have demonstrated the value of “passive” or “text independent” authentication and the results have been very positive.

Categories: Intelligent Authentication, Articles