Financial fraud, account takeover via voice channels on the rise

Cybersecurity concerns are all-too-often focused on digital platforms: online, mobile and even wearable devices. However, old-fashioned voice connections to financial institutions are increasingly being used by bad actors for nefarious gain, according to a recent report from Pindrop.

Indeed, while so much attention is focused on digital access and the potential fraud there, some cybersecurity analysts are looking at how bad actors have been abusing long-standing voice access to financial institutions, through call centers and automated voice trees. Atlanta-based voice technology provider Pindrop recently released its annual Voice Intelligence & Security Report, aimed at uncovering fraud, dark-web threats and other fraud challenges that could impact voice-based security.

Since individuals and their financial service providers may not consider voice channels and providers in their security plans, fraudsters are increasingly making their attacks here, since they see an unprotected opportunity. Indeed, the Pindrop study found that 92% of fraudsters were able to pass knowledge-based authentication (KBA) questions based in security authentication tests, while genuine customers only passed these knowledge-based tests 46% of the time…