Authentication using dynamic verbal questions based on social and geospatial history

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• a computer-readable program code stored in the computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable program code containing instructions that are executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to implement a method of authenticating a user who requests an access to the computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
• receiving, by the computer system, a request to authenticate the user who is requesting the access to the computer system;
• in response to the step of receiving the request to authenticate, polling, by the computer system, for historical data that includes (1) social media interactions that specify a person authorized to access the computer system and (2) geolocations of the person;
• automatically generating, by the computer system, a question that is relevant to a social media interaction included in the social media interactions, a geolocation included in the geolocations, or a combination of the social media interaction and the geolocation of the person authorized to access the computer system;
• receiving, by the computer system, a digital representation of a voice that provided an answer to the question, the digital representation of the voice being generated and stored in an audio file format by a digital audio technology coupled to the CPU, and the voice being spoken by the user who is requesting access to the computer system;
• based on the received digital representation of the voice that provided the answer, verifying, by the computer system, that the voice that provided the answer matches a voice of the person authorized to access the computer system;
• determining, by the computer system, that the answer to the question is correct;
• based on (1) the voice that provided the answer matching the voice of the person authorized to access the computer system and (2) the answer being correct, authenticating, by the computer system, the user and granting to the authenticated user the access to the computer system;
• receiving, by the computer system, a permission to receive data that includes a geolocation of another user;
• based on the received permission, polling, by the computer system, the data that includes the geolocation of the other user;
• and
• determining a match between the geolocation of the person authorized to access the computer system and the geolocation of the other user and between a first timestamp of the geolocation of the person and a second timestamp of the geolocation of the other user;
• wherein the step of automatically generating the question includes generating the question so that the question is relevant to the person and the other user having visited a location together at one time, wherein the location is specified by the matching geolocations of the person and the other user, and wherein the one time is specified by the matching first and second timestamps, and
• wherein the computer-readable storage medium does not include a transitory signal.

A computer system comprising:

• a central processing unit (CPU);
• a memory coupled to the CPU;
• a digital audio system coupled to the CPU;
• and
• a computer readable storage device coupled to the CPU, the storage device containing instructions that are executed by the CPU via the memory to implement a method of authenticating a user who requests an access to the computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
• receiving, by the computer system, a request to authenticate the user who is requesting the access to the computer system;
• in response to the step of receiving the request to authenticate, polling, by the computer system, for historical data that includes (1) social media interactions that specify a person authorized to access the computer system and (2) geolocations of the person;
• automatically generating, by the computer system, a question that is relevant to a social media interaction included in the social media interactions, a geolocation of the user included in the geolocations, or a combination of the social media interaction and the geolocation of the user of the person authorized to access the computer system;
• receiving, by the computer system, a digital representation of a voice that provided an answer to the question, the digital representation of the voice being generated and stored in an audio file format by the digital audio system, and the voice being spoken by the user who is requesting access to the computer system;
• based on the received digital representation of the voice that provided the answer, verifying, by the computer system, that the voice that provided the answer matches a voice of the person authorized to access the computer system;
• determining, by the computer system, that the answer to the question is correct;
• based on (1) the voice that provided the answer matching the voice of the person authorized to access the computer system and (2) the answer being correct, authenticating, by the computer system, the user and granting to the authenticated user the access to the computer system;
• receiving, by the computer system, a permission to receive data that includes a geolocation of another user;
• based on the received permission, polling, by the computer system, the data that includes the geolocation of the other user;
• and
• determining a match between the geolocation of the person and the geolocation of the other user and between a first timestamp of the geolocation of the person and a second timestamp of the geolocation of the other user,
• wherein the step of automatically generating the question includes generating the question so that the question is relevant to the person and the other user having visited a location together at one time, wherein the location is specified by the matching geolocations of the person and the other user, and wherein the one time is specified by the matching first and second timestamps.