[Discuss] Fidelity voice-recognition security?

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

On 11/21/2017 11:27 AM, Daniel Barrett wrote:
> Anyone here bank at Fidelity? They are touting a new security feature
> called "MyVoice" that opens up telephone access to your accounts
> without a password. It uses voice recognition to verify your identity.
>
>    https://www.fidelity.com/security/fidelity-myvoice/overview
>
> I declined the feature. Fingerprinting a voice uniquely over a
> low-quality telephone line? I can't imagine that's more secure than a
> non-obvious password. What does the security crowd here think?

Terrible idea.

First question: How secure is it? I am skeptical. Did you see the story 
about the 10-year old whose face was similar enough to what the neural 
nets concluded his parents look like, that he could unlock either of 
their Apple phones? Be skeptical.

Second question: The idea seems to make access more convenient. But do I 
WANT my retirement savings to be so convenient? Security through 
cumbersomeness is real and has value. Safe deposit boxes are cumbersome 
to access, too: and that is a feature.

-kb