Consumers to Access Accounts by Voice Only

NEW HOPE, Pa. & LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Committing a handful of security codes to memory can be difficult in today’s world of endless passwords and PINs. Now, through a new strategic alliance between Acxiom® Corporation and VoiceVerified®, consumers can simply use their voice to access high-security accounts.

SoundAccess™, a new identity protection system offered by both companies, allows consumers to access accounts remotely with financial institutions, insurers, retailers and other companies without the inconvenience of passwords and access codes. Security is ensured by Acxiom’s rigorous credentialing process to positively identify individuals prior to enrolling their voiceprint. Unlike outdated authentication methods in use at many call centers, SoundAccess uses highly advanced voice algorithms to match a speaker’s voiceprint with a previously stored sample.

SoundAccess users save money through more efficient call center automation, less fraud loss and increased customer loyalty and cross-selling opportunities.

“Your voiceprint is as unique as your fingerprint,” said Jeffrey D. Randol, founder and chief executive officer of VoiceVerified. “Our patented biometric technology pinpoints the attributes that make your voice your own so imitators cannot break through. Consumers will appreciate a secure identity protection system that eliminates the need to divulge personal information to strangers or manage endless lists of PINs and passwords. Moreover, SoundAccess allows a company to deploy a single user credential across call centers, interactive voice response systems and online to ensure a consistently convenient customer experience.”

“With the costs and damages caused by identity theft reaching more than $56 billion per year, prevention has become a top priority for many corporations,” said Jeff Stalnaker, Acxiom Financial Services Organization leader. “Acxiom is widely recognized as a leader in identity fraud prevention through its superiority in the automated verification and authentication of an individual’s identity. We are combining this powerful credentialing with VoiceVerified’s state-of-the-art technology to advance the way companies reduce losses from identity theft and fraud.”

When using the identity verification system, customers are prompted to repeat five randomly generated digits that change with each call. This prevents a person’s voice from being easily imitated by a recording or an imposter. This end-to-end solution provides single-user credentialing for customers across all their accounts for enhanced security and convenience.

“Identity proofing is the complement of authentication,” said Ant Allan, a Gartner analyst who covers the security and privacy industries. ”It verifies an individual’s claimed identity before authentication credentials are issued. Appropriately strong identity-proofing is just as necessary as appropriately strong authentication; together, identity proofing and authentication provide identity assurance.”

According to the recently released Unisys Security Survey and Index, which surveys consumers about security issues, “of the major concerns globally, overall, financial security issues produce the most worry. Concern over identity theft is the number one or number two concern in all countries except for Italy.”

Unfortunately, many existing identity theft solutions are disappointing for consumers. Smartcards can be lost or stolen. Security codes can be identified by keystrokes. Passwords are either too complex to remember or so easy that others can guess them. And the more accounts consumers have, the more confusing it gets. Consumer frustration associated with remote authentication can wreak havoc on a company’s customer relationships.

“This product lets companies increase security and privacy while improving customer convenience,” Stalnaker said.

About Acxiom Corporation

Acxiom Corporation integrates data, services and technology to create and deliver customer and information management solutions for many of the largest, most respected companies in the world. The core components of Acxiom’s innovative solutions are Customer Data Integration (CDI) technology, data, database services, IT outsourcing, consulting and analytics, and privacy leadership. Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., with locations throughout the United States and Europe, and in Australia, China and Canada. For more information, visit http://www.acxiom.com.

About VoiceVerified

The VoiceVerified service automates biometric verification for merchants, banks, brokerages, agencies, employers and organizations that must protect the identity and privacy of their consumers, employees and/or citizens. Delivered through a secure Point Service Provider (PSP) platform, the telephony-based service requires virtually no hardware, licensed software or modifications to existing systems. Non-intrusive, economical and accurate, VoiceVerified provides enterprises with a crucial layer of security to safeguard their corporate image, brand and consumer relationships. VoiceVerified is based in New Hope, Pa., and grew through the acquisition and development of voice authentication technologies. For more information, visit http://www.voiceverified.com.