ID R&D voice biometrics and liveness checks secure WhatsApp messages for health services

Chatbots are increasingly being used in WhatsApp to communicate sensitive information or carry out transactions with security requirements, prompting Uruguay’s Simpletech to deploy voice biometrics from ID R&D to the messaging platform.

BlueCross & BlueShield de Uruguay are using a Simpletech chatbot solution with ID R&D’s IDVoice biometrics integrated to provide multifactor authentication without adding inconvenient steps like one-time passwords, according to the company announcement.

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging application in the world, and its WhatsApp Business Platform is designed to ease communication with customers. Simpletech’s Wittybots solution allows customers to access their access their personal data and services through WhatsApp with biometrics instead of a PIN or password.

“Simpletech helps companies create innovative omnichannel experiences for their customers and stakeholders. Among different channels, the WhatsApp Business Platform provides powerful, media-rich interactions with users at scale, with over 7 billion voice messages exchanged per day, on average,” says José Luis Horta, Ph.D., CTO at Simpletech. “Our goal was to make WhatsApp transactional, adding security without friction, and that required voice authentication.”

A chat initiated within WhatsApp by either BlueCross & BlueShield de Uruguay or a customer starts with voice biometric enrollment with a short passphrase, if it is a new user. Once enrolled, the customer sends a voice message with the push of a button to schedule a medical appointment with a clinic or specialist. The message is analyzed for biometric matching and liveness, the request interpreted, and available appointment times suggested in response.

ID R&D has been pioneering the biometric liveness detection field, including working with BixeLab to formulate a testing protocol for bias in face biometric liveness checks.

The company’s voice biometrics and presentation attack detection technology won the SASV 2022 Challenge just months ago.

“We are really excited to help businesses communicate more securely with their customers by using voice biometrics right within a WhatsApp chat,” comments Alexey Khitrov, CEO and co-founder of ID R&D. “Users can access their personal data just by speaking a short phrase to the bot, removing friction and simplifying an otherwise complicated authentication process. The deployment at BlueCross and BlueShield de Uruguay is a great example of voice biometrics being an optimal solution to an authentication challenge.”

The partners say the deployment is the first use of biometric authentication by a business for secure customer communication on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

“This new voice biometrics application achieves the goal of innovating in the quest for improving customer experiences in healthcare coordination processes, while maximizing security requirements,” adds Roberto Sarni, CTO of BlueCross & BlueShield de Uruguay.

The combined WhatsApp security products from ID R&D and Simpletech will be demonstrated at Brazilian financial services innovation event Febraban Tech next week.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  ID R&D  |  secure transactions  |  Uruguay  |  voice authentication  |  WhatsApp