Autonomys new recording features support payment card industry data security standards

Autonomy etalk leads the way in protecting customer data in contact centre recordings

Autonomy Corporation plc, a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, has announced the expansion of its advanced call and computer screen recording security features that enable enterprise customer contact centres recording strategies to comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards. The PCI standards were created by the PCI Security Standards Council, an organisation founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa International, to protect the personal and financial data customers entrust to retailers, banks, service providers, and credit card companies.

According to Gartner research, approximately 15 million Americans experienced fraud related to identity theft between August 2005 and August 2006, highlighting the extent of the problem this solution addresses. Autonomy etalk’s Qfiniti technology can conceal sensitive data in both call and computer screen recordings of a client’s interactions. Combined with etalk’s encryption, auditing, and advanced security permissions, this prevents the unauthorised exposure of confidential information that can often be found in recorded transactions.

An increasing number of organisations record calls in the contact centre for purposes of compliance with industry regulations, customer dispute management, or quality assurance. These organisations must consider the security implications of these recordings, particularly when they contain customers’ sensitive financial data such as credit card and bank account information. Call centres that do not comply with the PCI standards risk unauthorised access that could result in financial loss or damage the valuable relationships businesses have worked to establish with their customers.

For example, the hospitality industry is focused on higher levels of security due to the sheer number of credit cards transactions between clients and reservation associates. One leading hotel chain is masking sensitive customer data when recording conversations and capturing desktop screens. Once a customer service representative begins typing information into the credit card field, that portion of the screen will be obscured from view and the audio will be ‘bleeped’ out. Only personnel with appropriate user permissions from Qfiniti will be able to see or hear the credit card information for dispute resolution purposes.

“With the constant exchange of information across the business, companies must be careful to restrict the ways personal data can be seen or heard in the contact centre,” said Scott Shute, CEO of Autonomy etalk. “Only by obscuring sensitive data in recordings can businesses share recordings for quality and training while still maintaining strict security standards.”

Autonomy etalk’s Intelligent Contact Centre solution provides several features that utilises a combination of metadata collected from the call and speech analytics to pinpoint the portions of a call or screen recording that need to be blocked from certain users. This allows organisations to manage all of their recordings from a single server without having to filter out calls that contain sensitive data. Autonomy etalk also offers other features that help in the protection of sensitive information including:

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  Encrypted Recordings – Encrypts recorded interactions at the time of the recording and requires decryption keys for playback, protecting data over private and public networks and preventing unauthorised playback of recordings.


• User Permissions – Provides numerous security permissions that can be created and managed for each user, from restricting access for playing back recordings to even hearing or seeing masked data in the recording.


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  Audit Trails – Detailed user activity such as log-ins, log-outs, and access to recordings can be tracked in audit reports, to allow organisations to produce reports for compliance purposes or internal investigations.