Question for people who know about phishing etc software

masonic

Emily_Joy said:

To be honest, I would be more concerned about not being able to access my account/verify myself when I am calling from somewhere with poor connection. Often from abroad I would be calling via skype and then the voice could be distorted. In my experience it is very difficult, if not impossible, to override decisions made by artificial intelligence, (see post office scandal for the most prominent case) and therefore I am trying to avoid any "smart" features when they are added for no good reason.

A few years ago I had a call terminated because I admitted calling via VOIP and was told that they didn't consider that secure enough. I think they'd be hard pushed to maintain such a stance now, and I don't recall which bank it was. I called back via the same means and didn't have any trouble the second time. I guess there was distortion on the first attempt that gave the game away. Thankfully, having embraced smartphone apps, the need to do things by telephone is much reduced, even if abroad.

People are going to fail voice checks all the time, whether they've got a sore throat, a hangover, are calling from somewhere with too much background noise, or a poor signal. In these instances, just be prepared to answer more questions than usual.

PoGee

There is a video on YouTube where the security doors open on facial recognition. The guy put up a picture of someone who worked at the facility and the doors opened. I'm not a techie person at all so don't know if the video was real or not and whether that would work in reality.

masonic

PoGee said:

There is a video on YouTube where the security doors open on facial recognition. The guy put up a picture of someone who worked at the facility and the doors opened. I'm not a techie person at all so don't know if the video was real or not and whether that would work in reality.

Very much depends on the system. I wouldn't use a facial recognition system using just cameras. The iPhone face ID system uses multiple cameras to build a 3D model and also infra-red imaging to map temperature contours. That's got to be the bare minimum to avoid such issues. I wouldn't use my face as a biometric on a cheaper Android device that just uses the normal front-facing camera. Many systems also have a 'liveness' check where they require you to blink or smile, for example.

AmityNeon

masonic said:

Many systems also have a 'liveness' check where they require you to blink or smile, for example.

NatWest's systems need further blink training. A friend of mine of East Asian descent can blink 10 times and nothing happens; she eventually suspected she had to open her eyes extra (unnaturally) wide and then close them... and voila, only then was a 'blink' registered. It works on the first attempt every time now.

Nasqueron

PoGee said:

There is a video on YouTube where the security doors open on facial recognition. The guy put up a picture of someone who worked at the facility and the doors opened. I'm not a techie person at all so don't know if the video was real or not and whether that would work in reality.

There are a lot of cheapo/knock-off phones you can find on sites like AliExpress (I watch a youtube channel with a guy who reviews them and takes them to bits) which claim to have facial recognition for unlock and it's basically fake, it's quite possible the video is legit and it's just a weak system that is there purely to give an illusion of security, assuming people will behave responsibly 

PoGee

Are there banks who don't insist on voice recognition?

masonic

PoGee said:

Are there banks who don't insist on voice recognition?

At the moment plenty. But any of them could decide to roll it out in the future. An app only bank like Chase would be least likely to introduce it, as they have an app-based verification system using push notifications.