What Is A Voice Signature?
Signature Model – unlike other biometric vendors and service providers, the VSS goes beyond the basic biometric authentication function and provides the additional features required by the various market sectors TradeHarbor serves, such as the credit card, banking, financial services and healthcare.
Traditionally, important transactions are consummated with a hand-written signature on a document. A Voice Signature is computer analysis of a person's voice to verify an identity-claim with a high degree of accuracy…
Your voice is uniquely you - your voice IS your signatureSM.
A Voice Signature consists of at least two short utterances of speech per transaction. The entire process, including verification, takes no more than 10 to 15 seconds over the phone, or on the web.
A Voice Signature is an electronic representation of an individual's utterances, with the following properties:
- Reconstructable - The stored electronic representation of the speaker's voice is rich enough to allow the reconstruction of the original speech utterance for audition and identity judgment by other listeners and/or devices.
- Identity Labeled - The electronic representation must be associated with an identity-claim.
- Protected - The electronic representation must be transmitted over secure channels, encrypted before storage and transmission, and accessible only to authorized individuals and/or organizations.
TradeHarbor's Voice Signature ServiceSM operates with all three of these properties in place.
TradeHarbor’s Authentication/Authorization/Audit trail functions meet the American Bar Association guidelines for a legally-binding signature.
| Function | Definition | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | Assurance that the person interacting with the system is who they claim to be | The identity of a remote participant is confirmed in a user-friendly manner |
| Authorization | The system only works when users cooperatively interact with the VSS | The cooperative act of a VSS user is analogous to the user signing a document or a credit card slip with their hand-written signature providing authorization. |
| Audit Trail | Each instance of a Voice Signature is securely stored and linked to the transaction by the use of a Session ID – (a UUID - Universally Unique Identifier) | Ability to show that the authorization originated from an identified source, and provide audit trails for proof in case of repudiation. |
Moving beyond what other voice verification engines and applications provide, the VSS incorporates the necessary elements to create a legally-binding transaction and meet the various regulatory requirements for financial transactions:
The VSS “signature model” enables compliance with regulatory issues such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Know Your Customer, and the USA PATRIOT Act in financial services, and HIPAA and HITECH in healthcare. The benefits of explicit Authentication, Authorization, and Audit Trails are valuable in a broad range of applications.
