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AI Technology Manages to Crack Bank Voice Authentication
AI technology can break into bank accounts that use voice authentication, as per a Vice Media writer who managed to get into his own bank account using the said tools.
According to Vice’s Joseph Cox, he successfully broke into his own bank account using an AI-generated voice. His account uses voice ID as a secure method for him to log in.
“I proved it’s possible to trick such systems with free or cheap AI-generated voices,” Cox wrote. “The bank thought it was talking to me; the AI-generated voice certainly sounded the same.”
The writer noted that he called his bank’s automated service line, and then played “a synthetic clone” of his voice made using “readily available artificial intelligence technology.”
To gain access to the account, the bank instructed the AI-generated voice to declare, “my voice is my password.” Cox was then granted access to his account without ever having to speak after playing a recording of the artificial voice claiming that “my voice is my password.”
“I had used an AI-powered replica of a voice to break into a bank account,” Cox mentioned, adding, “After that, I had access to the account information, including balances and a list of recent transactions and transfers.”
The Vice writer also admitted to using ElevenLabs, a provider of free voice production services, in his disclosure.
Cox also said that he did the same experiment with a Lloyds Bank account in the UK.
He couldn’t get in right away on this second attempt. However, he managed to get his AI-generated voice authenticated by the bank “after making some tweaks on ElevenLabs, such as having it read a longer body of text to make cadences sound more natural.”
“I recommend all organizations leveraging voice ‘authentication’ switch to a secure method of identity verification, like multi-factor authentication, ASAP,” said Rachel Tobac, CEO of social SocialProof Security, according to Motherboard.
Tobac also said that this way of generating a voice copy can be “completed without ever needing to interact with the person in real life.”
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