System and method for voice authentication over a computer network

1. A method comprising:

preauthenticating a speech sample received from a user as part of a request for a restricted-access resource, wherein the speech sample is received via a web browser;

transmitting an authentication request to an authentication server, which compares the speech sample to a previously established speech profile associated with the user;

receiving from the authentication server a response to the authentication request; and

providing access, via a processor, to the restricted-access resource based on the response.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user captures and sends the speech sample with a single user input.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a network client running the web browser preauthenticates the speech sample before transmitting the authentication request to the authentication server.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein preauthenticating the speech sample is more lenient than authentication performed at the authentication server.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a decision to preauthenticate the speech sample is based on network conditions.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon the speech sample failing to meet a certainty threshold, prompting the user for an additional speech sample, feigning poor speech recognition;

receiving the additional speech sample from the user;

performing a second comparison of the additional speech sample to the previously established speech profile; and

transmitting the authentication request upon the second comparison meeting the certainty threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the speech sample is a spoken password.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user reads specified text to generate the speech sample.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the authentication request comprises sending a portion of the speech sample to the authentication server via voice over IP.

10. A system comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a web browser of a client device, a speech authentication request associated with a preauthenticated speech sample received from a user as part of a request for a restricted-access resource;

comparing the preauthenticated speech sample to a previously established speech profile associated with the user; and

transmitting to the web browser of the client device a response to the authentication request, wherein the response provides access to the restricted-access resource.

11. The system of claim 10 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which result in operations comprising:

receiving a user token from the web browser; and

transmitting the response when the user token matches a previously established user token.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the preauthenticated speech sample is preauthenticated on the client device before the speech authentication request is received.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the speech authentication request is received via voice over IP.

14. The system of claim 10 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which result in operations comprising:

upon the speech sample failing to meet a certainty threshold, prompting the user for an additional speech sample, feigning poor speech recognition;

receiving the additional speech sample from the user;

performing a second comparison of the additional speech sample to the previously established speech profile; and

transmitting the authentication request upon the second comparison meeting the certainty threshold.

15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

preauthenticating a speech sample received from a user as part of a request for a restricted-access resource, wherein the speech sample is received via a web browser;

transmitting an authentication request to an authentication server, which compares the speech sample to a previously established speech profile associated with the user;

receiving from the authentication server a response to the authentication request; and

providing access to the restricted-access resource based on the response.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the user captures and sends the speech sample with a single user input.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein transmitting the authentication request comprises sending a portion of the speech sample to the authentication server via voice over IP.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein preauthenticating the speech sample is more lenient than authentication performed at the authentication server.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein a decision to preauthenticate is based on network conditions.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , having additional instructions stored which result in operations comprising:

upon the speech sample failing to meet a certainty threshold, prompting the user for an additional speech sample, feigning poor speech recognition;

receiving the additional speech sample from the user;

performing a second comparison of the additional speech sample to the previously established speech profile; and

transmitting the authentication request upon the second comparison meeting the certainty threshold.