Voice Biometrics Goes Back to Jail

In an earlier posting, I described the use of voice biometrics in jails/prisons to prevent illegal activity by inmates. An article in today’s Mt. Vernon Register-News reinforces the need for voice biometrics to prevent inmates from perpetrating phone scams.

According to the item, inmates at the Jefferson County Detention Center (Illinois) are using pay phones to call unsuspecting citizens and scam them. “This time, they are using a little different technique,” Jefferson County Sheriff Mulch explained. “The caller uses a calling card that has the ability to program it to Spanish. The person receiving the call only understands the ‘Jefferson County Detention Center,’ portion, and they hit the prompt to speak with the person. They get the detainee, who then speaks in English.”

The detainee pretends to be a police officer who is trying to identify someone who has been involved in a traffic accident, and the phone number they called was on the victim’s cell phone.

“People want to help and ask what they need,” Mulch said. “They are told to dial star 72 and enter a series of eight numbers, or they tell them to dial 1172 and a series of numbers. What that does is locks the phone number in and they can then use a calling card to make calls across the country using the victim’s phone number.”

Sheriff Mulch is in the process of researching the use of voice biometrics to track inmates’ fraudulent calls.

American Safety Council uses Voice Biometrics to Validate Identity of eLearning Students

The American Safety Council, an Orlando Florida based provider of eLearning courses, uses voice biometrics to validate student identity for defensive driving programs in New York and New Jersey. At various intervals during the course, students are required to validate their identity, via voice biometrics, within 60 seconds.

Two months ago, I posted an item about a similar voice biometrics application being offered by I DRIVE SAFELY. Does anyone know if they one and the same?

Alternative to Voice Biometrics? Online "Handwriting and Gesture" Biometrics

ThirdFactor.com recently wrote about a technology company located in Dallas, Texas, Biometric Signature ID, which developed an online handwriting and gesture biometrics application -- BioSig-ID™. According to the Company’s Website, BioSig-ID is an ideal solution for verifying the identity of people using online applications (e.g., distance learning, online banking, etc.). The BioSig-ID enrollment and verification processes work as follows:

Enrollment Process
• An individual is asked to draw their unique signature with any characters/shapes/initials, using their mouse, in an online box. This process is repeated three times to create a “base” signature
• The individual is then directed to a second non-biometric layer of security called Click-ID Technology (i.e., they click on a selection of objects) to complete the enrollment process. There is even a third-level of security using complex security questions

Verification Process
• An individual accesses the online application and is asked to draw their signature once. This process creates a “sample” signature
• If the individual’s “sample” signature matches their “base” signature, access is granted to the application
• If the signatures don’t match, additional levels of security are activated

BioSig-ID was recently selected to complete a pilot trial at University of Maryland University College.