Thales Supports Mobile Operators With Advanced Voice Biometric Authentication

July 07, 2021 — PARIS LA DÉFENSE — Thales announces a new voice biometric solution which is part of Thales Trusted Digital Identity Service Platform for onboarding and authentication. It meets the growing demand from mobile operator call centres to fight identity fraud whilst providing a seamless customer experience. Delivered in partnership with ID R&D, one of the recognised industry leaders in voice biometrics, this new capability further strengthens the Thales Trusted Digital Identity Platform, which already incorporates sophisticated identity document verification and advanced biometrics such as facial and fingerprint recognition.

Call centre operators are asked to verify the identity of callers in order to detect identity fraud attempts. As well as proving ineffective, current processes using Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) create frustrating delays for legitimate subscribers, compromising the customer experience.

In contrast, Thales’ automated voice matching solution is completely transparent and unobtrusive for callers and requires no input or training on the part of call centre staff. It allows to detect fraudsters trying to impersonate customers. Thales partners with ID R&D for this voice matching solution. Callers’ voices are compared rapidly with stored voiceprints of known fraudsters and individuals associated with suspicious call patterns. With strong performance in the 2019 NIST* Speaker Recognition Evaluation leading benchmark challenges, ID R&D’s technology is recognised as offering unprecedented accuracy, speed and reliability.

Thales voice matching also supports seamless authentication of legitimate customers. With user consent, this further opens the door to securely access personalised service offers. After a recent implementation by a leading mobile operator, Thales voice biometrics proved so effective in identifying fraudulent callers that it is now being extended to new use cases with existing user authentication, to replace login and passwords, all this whilst complying with the local regulations related to privacy

“ID R&D provides a new generation of voice biometrics that enables superior security and better user experiences. Partnering with Thales to detect and avoid fraud without imposing friction on customers and without giving any clues to fraudsters is exciting,” said Alexey Khitrov, CEO at ID R&D. “With this solution, we offer mobile operators a strong case for deploying voice biometrics to stop fraud during new subscriber enrolment and subsequently strengthen ongoing authentication.”

“Fraudsters are now targeting more and more remote channels like call centers to impersonate legitimate customers,” said Guillaume Lafaix, VP Mobile Connectivity Solutions at Thales. “But the unique characteristics of the voice therefore represent a powerful asset to fight those types of fraud. Captured effortlessly at enrolment, voice biometrics also establish a pathway for enhancing the long-term customer experience.”

* National Institute of Standards and Technology

About Thales

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations – connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum computing – to build a confident future crucial for the development of our societies. The Group provides its customers – businesses, organisations and governments – in the defense, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security domains with solutions, services and products that help them fulfil their critical role, consideration for the individual being the driving force behind all decisions.

Thales has 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2020 the Group generated sales of €17 billion.