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Every year there are more and more incidents of breaches. And seeing as call centers normally collect and store customer data, it should come as no surprise that they are often the targets of malicious actors looking to steal customer data.

To protect that data, every call center needs to have multiple layers of security set up – and these tips can help you to do just that.

Improve Q&A Security Protocols

Although Q&A security protocols are arguably outdated, they are still widely-used in call centers today. However, by manipulating customers into divulging personal information, fraudsters can often bypass this layer easily.

To strengthen your Q&A security protocols, start by asking open-ended questions that can have multiple answers. Additionally, you can try asking questions that may not be obvious even if the caller has got their hands on stolen documentation – such as when an account was opened, or what their first call was about.

Minimize Data Availability

As a rule of thumb, customer data should only be accessible to staff members who need it to fulfill their tasks. By minimizing data availability and making sure that others don’t have access, you can reduce the risk of a data breach due to carelessness or a rogue employee.

For example, an agent in a call center may require access to customer data about the customers they’re interacting with. However, they will not require access to data about customers assigned to other agents.

Aside from that, be sure to completely revoke access to customer data when employees leave the company.

Strengthen Passwords

Weak passwords are one of the main causes of data breaches – but fortunately, that’s easy to fix. All you need to do is enforce a policy to strengthen passwords and make sure that everyone gets on board.

Ideally, you should encourage not only call center agents, but also managers and other staff with data access to strengthen their passwords. It would be best if you can get customers to strengthen their passwords too, to reduce the risk of data being lost on their end.

If you want your password to be strong, try to make it long (at least 8 characters) and add in both uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers and symbols. Try to steer clear of common words or phrases too.

Train Agents in Security Best Practices

Frankly, you’d be surprised how many call center data breaches are caused due to mistakes made by agents. Some of these mistakes may be due to carelessness, while others are due to negligence.

In any case, you should make sure your agents are trained in security best practices. Try to come up with security guidelines for them to follow, and send them for training regarding cybersecurity and common threats such as social engineering tactics and phishing scams.

Be sure to also make certain that all employees know how to report any suspicious activity they see.

Update Software Regularly

Software updates often contain bug fixes and security patches. Because of that, you need to keep your software updated on a regular basis so that it is not exposed to any vulnerabilities.

Naturally, the call center software that you use must be updated to ensure it is secure. However, you should also update your operating system and any other apps that are used to improve your overall call center software security.

Carry Out Penetration Testing

If you want to really ensure that your call center is secure you should carry out penetration tests from time to time. These tests will simulate attacks on your system to check for vulnerabilities so that you can take action and fix them.

The tests that you carry out should not only look for software vulnerabilities but also other potential issues. For example, you could have people simulate calls to your agents and try to get through the Q&A security protocols.

Use Multifactor Authentication

Authentication is often one of the biggest problems with call center security. Simply relying on Q&A security protocols or passwords is not enough if you want the call center to be truly secure.

Instead of a single-factor authentication system, you should try using multifactor authentication instead. For example, you could add several layers to your authentication, including passwords, Q&A, mobile phone, email, or even biometrics and NFC.

Conclusion

Each of these tips can help to improve the security of your call center significantly and ensure that your customer data is well-protected. Just remember that the security of your system is something that you’ll continuously need to improve on if you want it to stay secure in the future as well.

If you remain proactive and constantly check for vulnerabilities, train your employees, update your software, and stay informed – you should be able to maintain a high level of security.

ET Digital Team

We’re a Digital Team from EngineTemplate with 5 content experts. Our team has 5 years exp in open source Joomla and WordPress, we make daily blogs and build useful resources for everyone who is having issues with open source while using it.