ValidSoft Voice Biometric Technology Comes of Age

LONDON, Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ValidSoft (www.validsoft.com), a global supplier of advanced telecommunications-based fraud prevention, authentication and transaction verification solutions, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elephant Talk Communications Corp. (NYSE MKT: ETAK), today announced that it has achieved its primary objective for its voice biometric technology  of successfully being measured and compared with the world's leading commercial voice biometric providers and non-commercial voice biometrics research groups. As a result, ValidSoft clients are assured that they have access to a fully integrated, multi-layer, multi-factor authentication and transaction verification platform that can seamlessly incorporate world-leading voice biometric technology.

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ValidSoft achieved its objective by successfully taking part in the prestigious National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Speaker Recognition Evaluation. This evaluation is the most important and main driver for innovation in the field of voice biometrics, particularly security (http://www.itl.nist.gov/iad/mig/tests/spk/).

NIST, a non-regulatory federal agency within the US Department for Commerce, holds a voice biometric challenge every two years to advance speaker recognition core technology and to encourage innovation amongst industry leaders, research institutes and academics. In the latest challenge, participants had three weeks to process a vast quantity of audio data and send back identification results achieved by their voice biometric engine. ValidSoft is believed to be the only security software vendor with an indigenous multi-factor authentication platform to take part in the most recent NIST challenge.

ValidSoft applied its commercially available biometric Speaker Verification Platform, VALid-SVP, used for fraud prevention, to suit the particular challenge. ValidSoft's successful participation in these trials highlights its ability to provide what is now recognized as an industry-leading security tool that can pass the highest and most stringent research tests and challenges.

Pat Carroll, CEO of ValidSoft commented: "We are delighted with our achievement at the NIST Speaker Recognition challenge. We firmly believe that voice biometrics will play an integral part in payment fraud prevention as more of us use our mobile phones to make money transactions. Using a voice print to authenticate a customer and verify transactions provides a natural and efficient security layer. It is not just for mobile-based payments either, as we see evidence of increased fraud over telecommunication channels such as traditional phone banking."

Banks, looking to strengthen security procedures, are increasingly interested in voice biometrics. IT analysts from Javelin and Gartner are beginning to recommend a combination of authentication methods that includes voice biometrics.  They expect at least one large financial institution to implement voice biometric caller authentication this year.

"We predict the use of voice biometrics for authentication and transaction verification purposes will accelerate within the banking industry, and other verticals. Voice biometrics will equally become increasingly appealing to insurance companies, government agencies, telcos and retailers, in fact any business where the phone is used as a means to contact their customers," added Carroll.

ValidSoft has invested considerable research resources into voice biometrics, as one of the layers within its multi-factor security platform, on the premise that mobile phones will become the device of choice for banking and payments. As part of its research and development (R&D) program, ValidSoft has made strategic partnerships with leading universities in this field. ValidSoft's voice biometric research and commercial credentials have also been endorsed by specialist technology analyst TechNavio in its report, Global Voice Recognition Market 2012 to 2016.

Research in 2012 has consistently pointed to how the security industry could use voice biometrics to secure data and banking transactions. It advocates that voice biometrics, used correctly, can fill this gap by accurately identifying that the end user is genuinely who they claim to be. As the mobile payments world develops further, communication by voice is a natural way to enroll, authenticate and validate. If a person is connected, whether by data channel or voice channel, then voice can be solicited – entirely natural in the mobile world. Voice biometrics is also a dynamic biometric, unlike a fingerprint or an iris scan, therefore it has the inherent capability to be configured to be rendered useless in the event that it is stolen.

News of ValidSoft's achievement in the NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation comes shortly after Opus Research, a top independent analyst firm in the voice biometrics industry, recognized the company as an industry leader in its Voice Biometrics Vendor Survey and "IntelliView" 2012.

About ValidSoft:
ValidSoft Limited has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Elephant Talk since early 2010 and underpins our mobile/cloud security offering. The company is a market leader in providing solutions to counter electronic fraud relating to a variety of bank, card, internet and telephone channels. ValidSoft's solutions are used to verify the authenticity of both parties to a transaction (Mutual Authentication), the security of the relevant telecommunication channel used (Secure Communications), and the integrity of transactions itself (Transaction Verification) for the mass market, in a highly cost effective and secure manner while being very easy to use.

The company counts several leading worldwide service providers and institutions amongst its customers.  ValidSoft is the only security software company in the world that has been granted three European Privacy Seals. Visit www.validsoft.com.

About Elephant Talk:
Elephant Talk Communications Corp. (NYSE MKT: ETAK), is a leading international provider of proprietary Software Defined Network (SDN) platforms for the telecommunications industry that empower Mobile Network Operators and Mobile Virtual Network Operators, Enablers and Aggregators with a full suite of Applications. This suite includes Full OSS/BSS Systems, Delivery Platforms, Support and Managed Services, on-site, cloud, hybrid and S/PaaS solutions, including Network, Mobile Internet ID Solutions, Secure Remote Access Management, Loyalty Management and Transaction Processing Services, superior Industry Expertise and high quality Customer Service without substantial upfront investment. Elephant Talk counts several of the world's leading Mobile Operators amongst its customers including Vodafone, T-Mobile and Zain, and virtually all business is focused on tier 1 and tier 2 operators worldwide. Visit www.elephanttalk.com.

Media Contacts:

PR Teams
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Investor relations:
Steve Gersten
Elephant Talk Communications Corp.
+ 1 813 926 8920
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Peter Salkowski
The Blueshirt Group
+1 415 489 2184
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SOURCE ValidSoft; Elephant Talk Communications Corp.