Meet your new password: Your voice

Bank call center agents make good interrogators. What's your name? Your account number? Your Social Security number? Your mother's maiden name? Preventing fraud is, of course, the goal. But that doesn't make the process any more convenient.

银行呼叫中心的话务员是优秀的审讯者，你叫什么名字？你的账号是多少？你的社会安全号码是多少？你母亲的娘家姓是什么？当然，这样做的目的是防止欺诈行为，但这没有让过程变得更方便。

An increasing number of companies are looking at an alternative that would do away with all of the annoying questions. Instead of an interrogation, the companies would verify their customers' identity using technology that analyzes so-called voice prints. Software would compare callers' voices with samples on file. Within a few milliseconds, the system would determine whether the speaker is, in fact, legitimate or an impostor.

越来越多的公司正在寻找一种替代方案，以期解决所有恼人的问题。这些公司将放弃“审讯”，而使用一种对所谓声纹（voice print）进行分析的技术来验证客户的身份。软件将对呼叫者的语音跟存档的样本进行比较，在几毫秒之内，系统就能判定呼叫者是拥有合法身份还是冒名顶替者。

Barclay's (BCS) and Vanguard are already using the technology, formally known as voice biometrics, with some customers. Other financial institutions and call center-intensive businesses like phone companies are considering it. Widespread adoption, however, will depend on factors like ease of use for consumers, reliability in preventing fraud, and the technology's cost. Consumers will also have to get comfortable with the idea of their voice prints being all that stands between their life savings and fraudsters.

巴克莱银行 （Barclay's）和先锋集团（Vanguard）已经在面向一些客户使用这种技术——它的正式名称是语音生物识别技术——其他金融机构和诸如电话公司这类倚重呼叫中心的企业也在考虑当中。不过，这种技术能否被广泛采用将取决于一些因素，比如客户的操作简易性，对防止欺诈的可靠性，以及技术成本。另外，客户也要能习惯于这样一种想法，即他们一生的积蓄和欺诈者之间只隔着自己的声纹。

"I think the public is getting ready for it," said Susan Austin, senior consultant with Enterprise Integration Group, a consulting firm that helps businesses with their call center planning and technology. "I don't think it's going to be the norm in the next few years, but it will be more prevalent."

“我认为公众已经准备好了。”Enterprise Integration Group（EIG）公司的高级顾问苏珊•奥斯汀说道，EIG是一家帮助企业规划呼叫中心和技术的咨询公司，“我不认为它会在未来几年成为规范，但它会变得更加普遍。”

Voice biometrics, as the technology is formally called, has been around for years. But companies are only now starting to take a more serious look following improvements in the technology and the increasing sophistication of fraudsters. The proliferation of mobile devices also adds to its allure. Entering lengthy passwords on smartphones isn't very practical when calling to get access to bank account balances, for example.

语音生物识别技术已经诞生好几年了，但在该技术得到改进以及欺诈者的手段变得日益复杂之后，各家公司才开始更加认真地看待它。移动设备的普及同样增加了这种技术的魅力，举例来说，当人们打电话查询银行账户余额时，在智能手机上输入冗长的密码并不是很方便。

Barclay's customer service was in bad shape before it started phasing in voice print technology a few weeks ago, said Matt Smallman, who leads the client experience team for Barclay's wealth management division. High fraud rates cost the company a lot of money. Moreover, customers were having trouble answering all the questions lobbed at them by call center agents. Around 10% of all callers, many of them legitimate, couldn't get into their accounts. "Clearly, our old model was broken, and we needed to do something about it," Smallman said at a recent conference in San Francisco focused on voice print technology.

几周前，巴克莱银行开始逐步引入声纹验证技术，马特•斯摩曼表示，该银行此前的客户服务很糟糕——斯摩曼是巴克莱银行财富管理部门客户体验团队的负责人。居高不下去的欺诈率让该银行损失大笔资金。此外，客户在回答呼叫中心话务员抛出的各种问题时也存在困难。所有呼叫者中大约有10%会无法进入他们的账户，其中很多拥有合法身份。“显然，我们的旧模式破产了，对此我们需要做一些事情。”斯摩曼在旧金山最近举行的一次声纹验证技术专题会议上如是说。

The company didn't decide on voice biometrics overnight. Extensive testing preceded the rollout last month. So far, about 30,000 clients have signed up. They can use the system to make basic inquiries like check their account balances, but not to transfer or withdraw money.

巴克莱银行并非突然就决定引入语音生物识别技术。在上个月推出这种技术之前，该银行进行了广泛的测试。到目前为止，约有30,000名客户签署了使用协议，他们可以使用这套系统进行基本的查询，比如检查自己的账户余额，但无法进行转账或提款。

To enroll, customers make an initial call to Barclay's during which they are recorded while repeating a phrase. A second call is required to verify that the technology recognizes them. In subsequent calls, customers give their I.D. number to an agent and then go through a brief voice verification process. The technology automatically determines whether the voice on the other end of the line is a close enough match. On average, the process takes 40 to 60 seconds, Smallman said. So far, the service has worked well, with less than 1% of all voice print calls experiencing problems.

要登记使用该技术，客户先要致电巴克莱银行，在通话期间他们要重复一个短语进行样本录制。之后客户还要打第二个电话，以验证该技术能否正确识别他们。在随后的通话中，客户可以将自己的身份识别号码告诉话务员，然后进行一段简短的语音验证。这种技术能够自动判定电话线另一头的声音是否跟样本匹配。斯摩曼表示，这个验证过程平均算来要花费40-60秒的时间。到目前为止，该服务运转良好，在所有声纹验证电话中，遇到问题的比例不足1%。

Not every customer who is offered the opportunity to enroll in the voice print program at Barclay's does so. Some are concerned about the privacy implications of having their voice recorded -- granted, many businesses already record customer service calls -- or they fear security breaches. Around 5% of the bank's customers have objected, Smallman said. In such cases, clients can continue to have call center representatives questioning them to verify their identity.

在巴克莱银行邀请加入这项声纹验证计划的客户中，并不是每个人都进行了登记。一些人担心录制自己声音可能带来隐私问题——的确，很多公司都对客户服务电话进行了录音——或者是，他们害怕安全漏洞。斯摩曼称，巴克莱银行有5%左右的客户拒绝加入。在这种情况下，那些客户可以继续让呼叫中心的话务员通过提问验证身份。

Austin, the consultant, said that it's important for companies using voice print technology to first get customer consent. Companies could, without warning, record their customers' voices during normal conversations with customer service agents and then use that for comparison for future calls. Austin said that members of focus groups have told her that they feel betrayed by such a program. Privacy advocates, no doubt, would also complain.

顾问奥斯汀表示，在使用声纹验证技术前首先征得客户同意，这对公司来说很重要。公司可能在没有提醒的情况下记录客户跟客服代表进行正常通话时的语音，然后在往后的通话中使用它进行比较。奥斯汀说，参与焦点小组访谈的成员告诉她，他们感到被这样一种计划出卖了。毫无疑问，隐私权倡导者也会抱怨。

David Pollino, who handles fraud prevention for Bank of the West, part of BNP Paribas, said that voice print technology has several potential shortcomings. Business accounts may not work because several employees typically have access. The variety of voices could confuse the technology.

大卫•波里诺说，声纹验证技术有一些潜在的缺点——波里诺是法国巴黎银行（BNP Paribas）旗下美西银行（Bank of the West）防欺诈部门的主管。公司账户可能无法正常工作，因为这种账户通常有数名员工有权登录，多种多样的语音可能会让该技术产生混淆。

There's also the question of who's liable if there's fraud. Is it the bank? The customer? Or the company that supplies the technology?

另外，问题还有：如果欺诈行为得逞，谁来负责？银行吗？还是客户？抑或是提供这种技术的公司？

Consumer psychology may also be a problem, said Pollino, whose bank does not use voice print technology. Bank customers, he said, prefer conspicuous security rather than subtle -- even if their protections are equally effective. Asking questions reassures people that the bank takes security seriously, he said. Replace questions with voice print technology, and customers may start to think that security is lax. "If you walk into a bank, you like to see a vault," Pollino said.

客户心理同样可能是一个问题，波里诺说道，他任职的银行并未使用声纹验证技术。他表示，银行客户更喜欢显而易见的安全技术而非不易察觉的——即使它们的保护作用同样有效。波里诺说，提问这种方式让客户感到银行是在认真对待安全问题，而将提问换成声纹验证，客户可能开始认为安全系统很松懈。“如果你走进一家银行，你会希望看到保险库。”波里诺如是说。

Determined hackers can overcome voice print technology, like any other security measure. Whether the danger is any greater than identity theft, stolen checks, or tampered credit cards is unclear. In theory, someone could fraudulently enroll for voice print access to someone else's bank account, providing they have a raft of personal information about them to get past the first step. They could also record a victim's voice and try to play it back, although banks can combat that tactic by making customers repeat random phrases to verify their identities. For the moment, traditional protections are so porous and voice print technology so new that hackers have hardly bothered to change their strategies.

有决心的黑客能够攻克声纹验证技术，就像其他任何一种安全措施一样。其带来的危险是否大于身份盗用、支票失窃或信用卡信息被篡改，这还不清楚。从理论上说，一些人可以欺骗性地登记使用声纹验证技术，以进入其他人的银行账户，他们可以提供大量个人信息来通过第一关。他们同样可以录制受害者的语音，然后试图进行回放——尽管银行可以通过让客户重复随机语句来验证身份，从而打击这种做法。就目前而言，传统保护措施已经千疮百孔，而声纹验证技术才崭露头角，以至于黑客们几乎没有费心去改变自己的策略。