Call Center Security Best Practices: Prevent Data Breaches and Ensure Compliance

Some businesses choose to outsource their call centers; others prefer to keep them in-house. Whatever the case, safeguarding customer information and otherwise ensuring data security and compliance is high on most business owners’ priority lists. The consequences of data breaches can be dire sometimes, especially when sensitive customer data is involved.

As a vendor who offers call center outsourcing services, SupportYourApp will happily share the best practices for maximizing call center security. We know what we’re talking about because we are following them ourselves.

Why Data Security in Call Centers Matters

Call centers are some of the most data-rich environments imaginable. Agents routinely handle all kinds of sensitive information — from personally identifiable information (PII) to payment card details to medical records and beyond, depending on the industry.

A single data breach in a call center can lead to serious financial losses, reputational damage, and legal penalties. In its 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report, IBM estimates that the average cost of a data breach is $4.45 million, with the number constantly growing over the past few years.

On top of the immediate financial impact, businesses sometimes face long-term negative effects of data breaches, including customer attrition and decreased market value. Data breaches undermine customer trust, which can lead to the loss of business and potential legal action from those affected or regulatory bodies.

Key Risks in Outsourced Call Center Operations

Outsourcing call center functions to experts is an exceptional business practice that helps companies cut costs, increase efficiency and flexibility, and focus on core functions. At the same time, outsourcing does add potential challenges to call center security.

In particular, the global distribution of data is a concern — even more so considering that the experts that businesses choose to transfer data handling responsibilities to are often located in different countries.

• Data breaches and cyberattacks. This one isn’t only relevant for outsourced call center security; most call centers can potentially fall victim to cyberattackers. Often seen as vulnerable points of entry convenient for infiltrating larger organizations, call centers regularly fall victim to different forms of cyberattacks — from phishing emails that trick employees into divulging credentials to ransomware attacks that lock down systems until a ransom is paid to malware that infiltrates networks to exfiltrate data, and more.
• Insider threats. Insider threats are extra important to keep in mind for any outsourced contact centre security (more so compared to businesses with an in-house call center). Not all insider threats are malicious; some are simply a matter of negligence. An employee might intentionally misuse customer data for financial gain or accidentally share sensitive information because they don’t fully understand security protocols. The business will still suffer the consequences.
• Non-compliance with data protection regulations. Data privacy regulations vary and can be confusing even to an expert — especially when there are multiple jurisdictions with different legal requirements involved. Despite the confusion, failure to comply with relevant regulations can result in a hefty fine. Under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), companies can be fined up to €20 million, or 4% of their annual global turnover (whichever is higher), for non-compliance with the regulations. Non-compliance can look like failure to report a data breach in time, transfer of data outside the EU without proper safeguards, failure to get explicit consent from customers before processing their personal data, etc.
• Data transfer across borders. Call center outsourcing is a global practice; it often involves the transfer of data across national borders. In addition to the regulatory concerns, the process of data transfer itself can make data more vulnerable. It’s a perfect opportunity for cybercriminals to intercept data and increase the risk of breaches.

Best Practices for Ensuring Call Center Security

None of the risks we’ve just listed should ever stop business owners from outsourcing their customer support out of concern for their contact center security. When done right, outsourced call centers can actually be safer compared to in-house teams. The key is to follow call center security best practices, such as these:

Conduct Thorough Vendor Assessment

Choose wisely when deciding who to outsource your call center operations to. Don’t just go for the cheapest option available — this approach might work sometimes, but it often comes with unpleasant surprises down the road.

Assess the vendors you’re considering rigorously. Evaluate their cybersecurity framework, including their use of firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and data encryption protocols. Assess not just the technology they’re using, but also how they approach security governance (how they monitor for threats and respond to incidents).

Just so you know, SupportYourApp hasn’t had any data breaches. Data security is one of our top priorities. We have regular risk assessments, encrypt data, and have an intrusion prevention system (IDS/IPS) in place. We’re also really proud of our team and have regular staff security training to minimize the possibility of human error.

Don’t Neglect Data Encryption and Anonymization

Encryption ensures that even if data is intercepted, it can’t be easily read and exploited. Strong encryption protocols — like AES-256 to protect from unauthorized access — for data both at rest and in transit can’t guarantee safety, but they’re a step in the right direction.

In turn, anonymization techniques can further help overall security by removing or changing personal identifiers in data sets. They make it difficult to trace the information back to specific people. Suppose a call center agent needs to access customer data to do their job but doesn’t need to see all the details, such as Social Security numbers or payment card information — data anonymization makes this possible.

Implement Access Controls and Monitoring

Strict access controls minimize the risk of unauthorized data access. For example, role-based access control (RBAC) ensures that employees only have access to the information necessary for their specific job functions. Even if a cyberattack happens, RBAC will significantly reduce the attack surface within the company.

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a basic yet effective data security method, too, and it contributes to contact centre security. MFA implies that users need to verify their identity through multiple methods — say, a password and a fingerprint scan — to access sensitive data. It’s routinely used in such sectors as banking, finance, and tech but is getting increasingly common across most industries.

However, RBAC, MFA, and other access controls don’t work without non-stop scrutiny. It involves tracking who accesses data, when, and from where, as well as monitoring unusual activity, such as attempts to access restricted information or excessive data downloads. Automated alert systems notifying of any unusual activity help companies respond to potential security breaches before they escalate into major incidents.

Employ Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions

DLP solutions are used to safeguard sensitive information. By continuously scanning data in use, in transit, and at rest to identify and block potential breaches, they help monitor and control the flow of data to prevent unauthorized transfer or leakage.

For example, DLP solutions can flag or encrypt sensitive information — like credit card numbers or personal identifiers —  to stop it from being sent over email. Call centers typically have DLP software, but if you decide to keep your call center operations in-house, DLP is yet another security-enhancing strategy to consider.

Conduct Regular Employee Training

Cyberattacks keep evolving, but human error consistently remains one of the leading causes of data breaches — no wonder employee training is a key part of any decent data security strategy. Some business owners still treat it as an afterthought, though, which rarely ends well.

To be effective and really serve the interests of call center security, employee training has to be comprehensive and cover at least such areas as call center security best practices, recognizing phishing attempts, and understanding regulatory requirements.

Ideally, employee training also needs to be tailored to specific roles within the call center — this way, employees receive relevant and actionable knowledge, which not only optimizes the training but also positively reflects on employees’ motivation to learn.

It also helps to include real-world scenarios and simulated phishing exercises in the training to give employees a chance to put their newly gained knowledge into practice.

Develop a Data Breach Response Plan

Data breach prevention is necessary, but nothing guarantees complete protection, so every business also needs a data breach response plan to minimize the impact of a security incident. The main areas for the plan to address are identifying, containing, and mitigating the breach; it must also clearly state the roles and responsibilities of key personnel should a breach happen.

Another essential element of a data breach response plan is a well-defined communication strategy — it’s what helps mitigate the reputational impact of a breach. The strategy must include public acknowledgment, communication with the affected parties, regulatory compliance, and reputation rebuilding. A good example would be Equifax’s response to its data breach in 2017.

Use Secure Communication Channels

Call centers handle customer interactions through various platforms these days, including phone calls, emails, live chat, social media, etc. Each of these channels comes with its own security challenges.

For example, traditional phone lines are vulnerable to eavesdropping, which is why secure VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solutions that encrypt voice data are great for those. Email and chat communication requires end-to-end encryption to prevent unauthorized access.

So, it’s up to the business owners to assess potential security risks associated with different communication channels, weigh the pros and cons, and decide if a certain platform is the right choice.

If you choose to outsource to a reliable vendor, you won’t have to do this on your own, but it’s still better to understand what you’re agreeing to. The call center security of your enterprise is something where extra oversight is never redundant.

Emerging Trends in Data Security for Call Centers

The cyber threats that call centers face keep evolving, but luckily, so do cybersecurity trends. Let’s take a look at what the immediate future of data security in call center outsourcing looks like.

• AI and ML. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are already an inherent part of most call center operations, but what they’re doing is gradually expanding. AI and ML can analyze vast amounts of data in real time, which makes them perfect for identifying patterns and anomalies that may indicate a security threat. For example, AI-powered systems can detect unusual login attempts and alert security teams to potential breaches before they escalate.
• Biometric authentication. Biometric technologies — such as voice recognition, fingerprint scanning, and facial recognition — are already actively used, but their role in call center security might soon grow. Biometric authentication (like recognizing the user by their voice) is especially helpful for preventing identity theft and unauthorized access to sensitive data.
• Zero Trust architecture. According to the traditional approach to security, once inside the network, users can be trusted. However, the Zero Trust model challenges this assumption and requires non-stop verification of every user and device, regardless of their location or network. In a call center, this means that even employees with internal access can’t escape strict authentication and authorization protocols. The Zero Trust model has its downsides — like the fact that employees rarely enjoy it — but its benefits for the overall call center security are undeniable.
• Cloud solutions. With everything else moving to the cloud, it’s only natural for security solutions to follow. Cloud-based security solutions can offer exceptional encryption, access controls, and real-time monitoring. What makes them especially convenient, though, is that they make businesses very flexible and scalable — for example, cloud security services can automatically scale up during peak call center hours to handle increased traffic without compromising security. 
• Real-time threat intelligence. Real-time threat intelligence relies on non-stop monitoring of global threat activity and using the findings to enhance security measures. Threat intelligence feeds can provide real-time updates on new phishing campaigns or malware strains. In turn, security teams can react immediately and prevent an attack.

An Afterword

There’s no way to achieve impenetrable data security, but doing everything in our power to ensure it is good enough. Outsourcing call center operations to experts who already know all the ins and outs of call center security is arguably the best — and the easiest — approach.

But even with expert support, it makes sense to explore main call center security best practices to understand what to expect from a potential vendor and why. Some of the most important ones are data encryption and anonymization, access controls and monitoring, DLP solutions, regular and thorough employee security training, and a well-thought-out data breach response plan in place.

Also, we recommend following the main emerging data security trends — like biometric authentication, Zero Trust architecture, and real-time threat intelligence. They might be innovative, but they’re also a great source of inspiration and new ideas for security teams.

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