Home Offices Security Directly Affects Call Center Clients

Safe and Secure are essential elements of an efficient home workstation—as in one used by a telecommuting call center agent. But of particular concern is the aspect of cloud security, when the company that uses remote workers provides a cloud service.

Companies must keep in mind that agents’ computers, not just company servers, can be hacked. Thus, that laptop or desktop computer must be padded with the same layers of protection that the company data center has. At a minimum, anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software must be installed in the devices.

Additional must-have measures and concerns:

• Lock-down technology. A locked-down device prevents data from getting out or even copy-and-pasted during a session between the remote agents and customer. During this time, the agent may not even be able to save files. These tactics prevent the customer’s sensitive data from going beyond the call center’s barricade.
• Security software must be regularly updated and patched up.
• The security system should undergo routine audits.

• The host integrity check (HIC) is a big must. The endpoint HIC confirms that the agent is gaining access at the right time, using an authorized network, also confirms the absence of an unauthorized application.
• If the agent fails the HIC at endpoint, the session goes into a dormant state, in that the only things that can be done during this period pertain to security measures. The agent must pass the endpoint HIC in order to be able to return to their work.

The Cloud and security options

Often, customer calls are recorded. The cloud service should encrypt all of these calls in their entirety. Seek a call provision technology that totally scrambles the transaction from both live and pre-recorded calls from start to finish.

Live calls can be protected with IVR: interactive voice response. This prevents the agent from seeing or hearing sensitive information, like credit card data and social security numbers. The agent will only see a confirmation number and verification of a completed payment transaction.

Remote desktops are risky and hence, should be equipped with features including disablement of the copy-and-paste function and blocking the worker’s local device access while they are logged on remotely.

Final Thoughts

• Are the company’s remote agents’ backgrounds thoroughly checked and verified?
• Is their workstation secure?
• Are sessions with customers encrypted?
• A cloud-based contact center really has no excuse for lacking top-notch security layers.
• Companies need to think hard about their current cloud service, or about the one they’re thinking of using.

The cloud can come to the rescue for at-home workers and preserve the confidence of customers. Customers shouldn’t have to fear that when giving out a credit card number and its CVV code, the agent on the other end of the call will then use this information to go on an online shopping spree.