Pindrop: Will It Make Burner Phones Less Attractive to Bad Actors

October 12, 2016

I read “Lloyds to Use Pindrop Tech to Identify Fraudulent Calls.” The company has technology which fingerprints a voice call. The approach considers such factors as “‘location, background noise, number history and call type, among others.” The “others” includes about 140 other items of information the system can extract or generate. The idea is that a fraudulent call can be flagged and appropriate action taken. The company, like Recorded Future, is partially funded by Alphabet Google.

The company was founded in 2011 and uses smart software to provide an early warning system when an in bound call is potentially fraudulent. Each monitored call receives an “audio fingerprint”; that is, a numerical identifier which allows calls to be analyzed. Terbium Labs uses a fingerprinting technique to identify certain types of content on Dark Web and other online sites.

The idea is that a customer service representative can be alerted when a back actor calls to transfer money or request a new credit card.

Can the system identify fraudulent calls from burner phones. These are devices which place calls and use one time SIM cards? What other applications will Pindrop bring to market? What happens if the technology is applied to Google’s new voice actuated home devices?

For more information about Pindrop, navigate to the company’s About page. Presumably Pindrop’s stakeholders can hear a pin drop and may more.

Stephen E Arnold, October 12, 2016

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