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However, A Speech Recognition Application in the Wrong Hands can Destroy Your Life.

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As technology advances, new applications for existing software are being imagined every day. 

People are constantly discovering useful new ways to utilize existing technology that people would never have considered. 

For example, speech recognition applications make great strides in enabling blind or visually impaired people to lead relatively normal lives. 

These applications enable the visually impaired to ‘read’ and interact with news sources, the Internet and other formerly inaccessible parts of daily life. 

Companies that develop these applications are very careful to point out their positive uses, of which there are many, and minimize the potentially dire negative consequences of misuse. 

The organizations that advocate these technologies don’t talk about how easy it is to co-opt and misuse a speech recognition application. 

In reality, these same programs that promise such great strides for the visually impaired also carry dire implications. 

If someone manages to counterfeit a voice and tap into a voice recognition program, he or she could easily take over a system or even steal an identity. 

And with existing technology today, it’s far too easy to counterfeit a voice.

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Speech Recognition Programs Carry Potentially Dire Consequences

Speech recognition programs bring a lot of potential to the visually impaired, and in security applications, but they also carry potentially dire consequences.

A speech recognition application is one of the most easily misused pieces of software out there today. 

It’s extremely easy to counterfeit a voice with a high degree of accuracy, and if a visually impaired person sets speech recognition programs to be able to access sensitive personal data and accounts, such as bank accounts and credit cards, his or her identity would be completely compromised. 

If a visually impaired person sets a voice recognition program to access bank accounts, and someone breaks into that program, that person then has access to all bank accounts and credit cards that the owner possesses.

From there, the thief could then transfer all the funds, or even lock out the account owner. 

Companies that advocate speech recognition programs for the visually impaired don’t bother to point out these flaws in functionality and security.

In fact, they promote these programs in spite of the vulnerabilities, because they don’t care what happens to the people who use their systems. 

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Speech Recognition Programs Make Poor Security Devices

Some organizations advocate using speech recognition programs as security devices. Unfortunately, they make very poor security devices.

The degree of proficiency it requires to break a speech recognition application security is extremely low. 

Opponents of biometric security systems site how easy it is to break fingerprint codes, or undo other biometric security systems.

If biometrics are that easy to manipulate, how much more so simple speech recognition programs? 

All it takes is a relatively persistent person with a tape recorder or a hidden microphone, and it’s fairly easy to synthesize a passable fake voice to break a security system.

When that happens, there’s no recourse, and the thief can even change the access so the original owner can’t get into the system at all. 

Speech recognition programs make poor security devices, but people who advocate them won’t tell you that.

Instead, look at studies about how easy it is to crack voice recognition programs to understand the truth that big companies don’t want you to know.

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