WASHINGTON–The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is pressing the nation’s biggest banks over their plans to stop AI-cloned voices from being used to break into consumers’ financial accounts.
Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has sent letters to the CEOs of the country’s largest institutions seeking details on the growing threat from artificial intelligence and the ability create fake voices that are then used to get past banks’ (and credit unions’) biometric security.
The letters follow the success of a reporter for Motherboard who used an AI-powered solution to clone his voice and then fool his bank’s voice authentication security system.
How Reporter Did It
As CUToday.info reported here, reporter Joseph Cox said he phoned his bank’s automated service line, with the bank first asking him to say in his own words why he was calling.
“Rather than speak out loud, I clicked a file on my nearby laptop to play a sound clip: ‘Check my balance,’ my voice said,” Cox reported. “But this wasn't actually my voice. It was a synthetic clone I had made using readily available artificial intelligence technology.”
In his letter to the banks, Brown wrote, “In recent years, financial institutions have promoted voice authentication as a secure tool that makes customer authentication faster and safer. Customers have used voice authentication tools to gain access to their accounts. According to news reports, however, voice authentication may not be foolproof, and it highlights several concerns.”
Brown sent the letters to the CEOs of JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, and TD Bank.
Seeking a ‘Better Understanding’
“We seek to better understand what measures financial institutions are taking to ensure the security of the voice authentication tools and the steps they are taking to ensure strong data privacy for voice data,” the letter continues. “Like a fingerprint, face id, or retinal scan, voice data is among the most intimate types of data that can be collected about a person. Consumers deserve to understand how their voice data is being collected, stored, used, and retained.”
Motherboard reported it tested the cloned voice on the authentication system of Lloyds Bank in the U.K. Many banks in the U.S. use similar systems, such as TD Bank’s “VoicePrint” and Chase’s “Voice ID,” Vice.com reported.
The report noted that in September 2022, lawyers filed suit against a group of U.S. financial institutions because they believe biometric voice prints used to identify callers violates California law.
What’s Being Requested
In his letter to the banks, Brown asks each to describe:
- Their use of voice authentication services, including whether they are using third-party provided tools; how frequently customers use voice authentication
- How the banks respond to breaches due to flaws in voice authentication
- Where customer voice data is stored.
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