The agenda for Voice Biometrics Conference – San Francisco 2014 (#VBCSF2014) has rounded out nicely. We’ll start with a rigorous assessment of the state of the market and culminate, a day and a half later, with an expert panel to discuss opportunity areas and technologies to support multi-factor authentication for a broad set of vertical markets and use cases. In between attendees will be treated to an overview of the mounting threat that phone-based fraud poses to banks, healthcare organizations, government agencies, telecommunications companies and retailers (courtesy of PinDrop Security). It will be followed by a descriptions of the mechanics and financial impact of security breeches at major retailers and card issuers “ripped from the headlines” of the business and general news media (presented by Verint).

A panel of experts will then describe the latest developments in efforts to use voice and other factors to secure mobile devices and apps. Strong, simple authentication is becoming increasingly important as smartphones emerge as the highly personal tools for communications, navigation, search, entertainment and commerce. A number of alternatives – including fingerprint, face, iris, even ear prints – have emerged as biometric candidates for securing and personalizing those smartphones, as well as tablet, phablets and laptops.

Day One culminates with a keynote case study from Beth Gallagher, VP of Payment Innovation at U.S. Bank. Beth will walk through the actual nsteps that a major commercial bank took to identify and specify the requirements for a voice biometric-based platform; processes involved in selecting an approach and a vendor; preparation for roll-out, including proof-of-concept, trials, training and managing expectations. She will also share insights gained from internal tests and evaluations. Her presentation will be followed by a reception and networking opportunity sponsored by Pindrop Security.

Day Two begins with a keynote case study from José Ignacio Zorilla, Executive director of Channels at Banco Santander-Mexico. His bank has more than 3 million monthly callers and has started to use voiceprints as a more convenient way for them to authenticate. His talk will be followed by a micro view of the impact of phone-based fraud on a commercial bank (anonymous, of course, but based on real world events and statistics.)

The rest of the day is dedicated to understanding alternative futures for voice biometrics and multifactor authentication, encompassing cloud-based deployments and the pay-as-you-go business model; operational considerations, such as enrollment procedures, standards development, phone line quality, and more; using voice in passive authentication scenarios, password replacement; bimodal approaches to implementation; and weaving simple authentication into e-commerce over a multiplicity of devices for a variety of verticals.

The closing panel will feature executives from Nuance Communications, VoiceVault, VoiceTrust and NICE Systems. I’ll be there to ask questions and provide my own insights, but we’ve always encouraged attendees to join discussions and BYOQ, “bring your own questions.” Voice biometrics-based solution sets and technologies are maturing rapidly. If you are involved with security, mobility, technology planning or user experience development in the industries mentioned above, you can play a very meaningful role in shaping its future while satisfying your own curiosity.

Categories: Intelligent Authentication, Articles

Tags: Contact Center, information security, secure mobile, Voice biometrics