{"id":619652,"date":"2023-03-19T09:48:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T14:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/19\/ai-fooled-voice-recognition-to-verify-identity-used-by-australian-tax-office\/"},"modified":"2023-03-19T09:48:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T14:48:56","slug":"ai-fooled-voice-recognition-to-verify-identity-used-by-australian-tax-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/19\/ai-fooled-voice-recognition-to-verify-identity-used-by-australian-tax-office\/","title":{"rendered":"AI fooled voice recognition to verify identity used by Australian tax office"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"maincontent\">\n<p>A voice identification system used by the Australian government for millions of people has a serious security flaw, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.<\/p>\n<p>Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) both give people the option of using a \u201cvoiceprint\u201d, along with other information, to verify their identity over the phone, allowing them to then access sensitive information from their accounts.<\/p>\n<p>But following reports that an AI-generated voice trained to sound like a specific person could be used to access phone-banking services overseas, Guardian Australia has confirmed that the voiceprint system can also be fooled by an AI-generated voice.<\/p>\n<p>Using just four minutes of audio, a Guardian Australia journalist was able to generate a clone of their own voice and was then able to use this, combined with their customer reference number, to gain access to their own Centrelink self-service account.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"f6efae05-c399-4d5a-bd13-2eb5183e73a8\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{\"richLinkIndex\":4,\"element\":{\"_type\":\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2023\/feb\/01\/chatgpt-maker-openai-releases-ai-generated-content-detection-tool\",\"text\":\"ChatGPT maker OpenAI releases \u2018not fully reliable\u2019 tool to detect AI generated content\",\"prefix\":\"Related: \",\"role\":\"richLink\",\"elementId\":\"f6efae05-c399-4d5a-bd13-2eb5183e73a8\"},\"ajaxUrl\":\"https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk\",\"format\":{\"display\":0,\"theme\":0,\"design\":0}}\"><\/gu-island><\/figure>\n<p>The voiceprint service, described as the \u201cdigital representation of the sound, rhythm, physical characteristics and patterns of your voice\u201d, was used by 3.8 million Centrelink clients as of the end of February, and more than 7.1 million people had verified their voice with the ATO.<\/p>\n<p>Services Australia, the department that oversees Centrelink, says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.servicesaustralia.gov.au\/create-your-voiceprint?context=22646\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">on its website<\/a> the service is \u201csecure, accurate and reliable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for someone to access your personal information. The system can tell when someone is pretending to be you or using a recording of your voice. We won\u2019t give them access to your details.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2022\/oct\/29\/email-newsletters-guardian-australia-best-daily-news-emails-newsletter-free-sign-up-inbox-subscribe-headlines?CMP=copyembed\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Sign up for Guardian Australia\u2019s free morning and afternoon<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2022\/oct\/29\/email-newsletters-guardian-australia-best-daily-news-emails-newsletter-free-sign-up-inbox-subscribe-headlines?CMP=copyembed\" data-link-name=\"in body link\"> <\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2022\/oct\/29\/email-newsletters-guardian-australia-best-daily-news-emails-newsletter-free-sign-up-inbox-subscribe-headlines?CMP=copyembed\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">email newsletters for your daily news roundup<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Anyone trying to use voiceprint also needs to know the account-holder\u2019s customer reference number, which is not normally publicly available, but the number is not treated as securely as a password and is included in correspondence from Centrelink and other service providers, such as childcare centres.<\/p>\n<p>The self-service phone system allows people to access sensitive material such as information on their payment of benefits and to request documents to be sent by mail, including replacement concession or healthcare cards.<\/p>\n<p>When Guardian Australia contacted Services Australia with details of the security vulnerability, it declined to say if the voiceprint technology would be changed or removed from Centrelink.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson, Hank Jongen, said Services Australia \u201chas the capacity to continually assess risks and update processes accordingly\u201d and that voice ID is a \u201chighly secure authentication method\u201d used by Centrelink.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continually scan for potential threats and make ongoing enhancements to ensure customer security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we identify unusual circumstances in how customers use our authentication systems, we apply additional tests to confirm a caller\u2019s identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"a6c350a4-2efe-4e95-a95a-2d2725bda774\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.InteractiveAtomBlockElement\"><\/figure>\n<p>Centrelink\u2019s self-service phone line uses voiceprint in an automated system in lieu of a password, but the ATO and at least one Australian bank \u2013 Bank Australia \u2013 offer voiceprint as an option during conversations with staff to reduce the need for verification questions. This may be less vulnerable to exploitation by AI-generated voice software as it is more difficult to respond with high-quality responses in real time, but the technology to do so is steadily improving.<\/p>\n<p>Toby Walsh, the chief scientist at the University of New South Wales\u2019 AI Institute, told Guardian Australia he was able to clone his own voice within five minutes, and the ease with which AI could bypass biometric identification showed its limits as a security tool. Walsh did not use the cloned voice to test access to any services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the basic lesson here is that biometrics is not going to save us from the hassle we have today with passwords and two-factor authentication,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\"><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/#EmailSignup-skip-link-19\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-19\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019ve contacted the person by multiple routes \u2013 through their phone or internet account \u2013 then you have some confidence that the person is [who they say they are], but just seeing their face or hearing their voice is not going to be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ed Santow, a former human rights commissioner and now director of policy at the Human Technology Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, said government agencies using biometrics as a form of verification needed to ensure they had the best systems in place, and that there was legislation underpinning those systems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt needs really clear legislation to make sure that the guardrails are in place from the government perspective, [as well as] basic standards,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that the government agency is only using technology when it is safe and reliable, and is not going to be subjected to misuse and cybercrime.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"f70873b3-cc0b-4ec0-838a-ebefaa22f329\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{\"richLinkIndex\":23,\"element\":{\"_type\":\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2023\/mar\/08\/darktrace-warns-of-rise-in-ai-enhanced-scams-since-chatgpt-release\",\"text\":\"Darktrace warns of rise in AI-enhanced scams since ChatGPT release\",\"prefix\":\"Related: \",\"role\":\"richLink\",\"elementId\":\"f70873b3-cc0b-4ec0-838a-ebefaa22f329\"},\"ajaxUrl\":\"https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk\",\"format\":{\"display\":0,\"theme\":0,\"design\":0}}\"><\/gu-island><\/figure>\n<p>A spokesperson for the ATO said the agency had robust measures in place to protect the system from threats including AI voice cloning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ATO actively scans for potential vulnerabilities and enhances its system as required to ensure the security and protection of ATO client data, and appropriate controls are embedded in the digital services we offer to the Australian community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Bank Australia said the bank worked \u201cclosely with our technology partners to regularly monitor and continuously improve our systems to ensure that we stay ahead of new threats, including those posed by emerging AI and machine learning tools\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Nuance, the company whose technology is used for the voiceprint service, did not specifically address questions about the vulnerability, but directed Guardian Australia to a <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsnext.nuance.com\/customer-engagement\/detect-and-beat-synthetic-voices-with-biometrics\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">blog post from February<\/a>, in which it addressed the issue of \u201csynthetic voices\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In the blog post, the company outlined its efforts to detect synthetic voices, and claimed its latest technology could accurately detect and flag the use of cloned voices in 86% to 99% of cases, depending on the technology used.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Nuance, we know we can\u2019t rest on our laurels, and fraudsters will continually look for ways to get around our security technologies. That\u2019s why we devote a huge amount of R&#038;D effort into anticipating criminals\u2019 next steps and constantly staying one step ahead,\u201d the post said.<\/p>\n<p>Voice cloning, a relatively new technology using machine learning, is offered by a number of apps and websites either free or for a small fee, and a voice model can be created with only a handful of recordings of a person.<\/p>\n<p>While the voice generated is better with high-quality recordings, anyone with public recordings of themselves on social media, or who has been recorded elsewhere, could be vulnerable to having their voice reproduced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2023\/mar\/16\/voice-system-used-to-verify-identity-by-centrelink-can-be-fooled-by-ai\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Dion Mcnaught<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A voice identification system used by the Australian government for millions of people has a serious security flaw, a Guardian Australia investigation has found.Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) both give people the option of using a \u201cvoiceprint\u201d, along with other information, to verify their identity over the phone, allowing them to then access<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":619653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24609,46,950],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fooled","category-technology","category-voice"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}