Sberbank began to compete with the Central Bank for biometric data of Russians

Sberbank began to fully compete with the Central Bank for the collection of biometric data of Russians - for this, the bank is creating its own platform with biometric information from customers (the Central Bank launched its own in the summer). Bank users this week began receiving invitations to submit a voice sample in order to “verify identity faster and more securely” when calling a call center. write, This is only the beginning of a "grand plan," Vedomosti and Reuters citing their sources.

Details

• In the summer, the Central Bank and Rostelecom launched the Unified Biometric System (UBS). Russians are invited to submit their facial image and voice sample in order to receive banking services remotely faster. Banks themselves will be able to more accurately identify a person. So far, only 2,000 people have submitted samples to the state system, but by the end of 2018 (this is a requirement of the Central Bank), banks are required to provide the opportunity to submit biometrics in 20% of branches, and by 2019 - in all the rest. At the same time, the client can permanently delete his data from the EBS by submitting a corresponding application to the bank.
• By registering its customers in the EBS, Sberbank, in fact, was forced to share its huge customer base with competitors. To avoid this, the bank has developed the Unified Authentication System (ESA). According to the representative of the bank, while the ECA only works with the face and voice, samples can be taken in more than 6,000 branches. The system "will provide access to biometric services in all channels, speed up service and make it more convenient and safer," the bank says.
• Employees of Vedomosti remotely handed over samples of votes to Sberbank by calling the call center. First, through Sberbank Online, you must agree to the processing of personal data (not only voices, but also images of the face, drawings of palm vessels, fingerprints, etc.) and enter the code sent by SMS. Consent is given for 50 years, it, as in the case of the Central Bank platform, can be withdrawn by writing an application at a bank branch.
• Sberbank has not yet joined the EBS and explains this by the fact that all the regulations have not been adopted, moreover, the work of the EBS "does not affect customer service" of the bank. At the same time, by the end of the year, Russians will be able to submit biometrics to the EBS in 20% of Sberbank branches, as required by the Central Bank, its representative assured.
• As Reuters notes, in order to confirm the voice and other biometric data of Russians, Sberbank is buying Speech Technology Center, a developer of speech recognition systems, owned by Gazprombank structures, for 5 billion rubles. In addition, Sberbank owns 25% in VisionLabs, which is developing its own face recognition system and products in the field of VR and AR.

ECA allows you to prevent unauthorized access to the account, even if the fraudster managed to take possession of the passport and personal data of the client, explains a representative of Sberbank. The biometric system will allow withdrawing money from ATMs without cards and accessing the cell without the presence of a bank employee, said Maria Shevchenko, Chief Operating Officer of Alfa Bank. At the same time, risks remain when working with biometrics, Cisco security expert Aleksey Lukatsky warns: if scammers steal the "vote base", they will be able to perform transactions on behalf of a person. Also, unlike a password that can be updated, a voice cannot be changed easily, he points out. It is impossible to ensure absolutely secure storage of biometric data, Tsarev agrees: any database in any company or data center has administrators, and any system has developers: both of them make mistakes or may turn out to be fraudsters.

Artem Gubenko