Phone Call Authentication
Trust in phone calls has significantly declined in recent years as consumers have been overwhelmed with irritating and malicious phone calls. From spoofing and robocalls to phishing scams and fraud, this flood of unwanted calls has made most people hesitant to answer calls from unknown numbers, presenting serious challenges for businesses that rely on contact centers to connect with customers and prospects. At the same time, call centers are constantly under attack from fraudsters seeking to dupe agents into revealing sensitive information or providing access to the accounts of legitimate customers.
In this environment, phone call authentication has become a critical technology for verifying the legitimacy of calls and ensuring secure communication. These solutions are essential for rebuilding trust, protecting sensitive information, and enhancing operational efficiency in contact centers.
What Is Call Authentication in Call Centers?
Phone call authentication in call centers uses technology to verify that a call is genuine and that the caller is who they claim to be. Call center authentication may rely on various methods to accomplish this, including multifactor authentication, knowledge-based authentication, voice biometrics, and STIR/SHAKEN protocols. By consistently verifying the identity of callers and the source of calls, phone call authentication helps call centers combat a wide range of threats while increasing efficiency, reducing costs, improving call answer rates, and protecting the reputation of the business.
The Importance of Phone Call Authentication
Phone call authentication in call centers is essential in today’s environment of growing threats and declining trust in phone communication. Contact centers handle sensitive information like financial records and personal data, and agents are encouraged to be as accommodating to callers as possible. This makes contact centers prime targets for fraudsters seeking to gain access to customer accounts, get agents to divulge sensitive information, or dupe agents into believing they are legitimate customers. These attacks compromise security and damage customer relationships, causing significant financial losses and damage to reputation.
Despite the seriousness of these threats, many businesses and their call centers remain underprotected, as most companies have prioritized cybersecurity over protections for voice networks. Superior contact center authentication software closes this security gap by detecting and blocking fraudulent callers during calls or before they reach contact center agents.
The Biggest Threats to Contact Centers
Call authentication technologies are designed to tackle some of the most significant threats facing contact centers today.
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Caller ID Spoofing Fraudsters manipulate the caller ID displayed on a recipient’s phone to make it appear as though the call is coming from a trusted source, such as a bank, government agency, or even the contact center itself. This trick allows scammers to deceive agents, gaining access to sensitive information or carrying out fraudulent transactions. Spoofed calls to customers can also damage the reputation of legitimate businesses whose numbers are impersonated.
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Fraud and Account Takeovers Fraudsters frequently exploit contact centers for account takeovers, a type of attack where they impersonate legitimate customers to gain unauthorized access to accounts. Armed with personal information gathered through data breaches or phishing scams, attackers attempt to dupe contact center agents to steal funds, make fraudulent purchases, or access private customer data. This type of call center fraud not only results in financial losses but also damages the trust customers place in the business.
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Phishing and Social Engineering Scammers pose as legitimate customers or business partners, using persuasive tactics to trick agents into revealing sensitive information such as passwords, account numbers, or authentication codes. These attacks are particularly dangerous because they bypass traditional security measures by preying on human error.
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Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) Attacks TDoS attacks flood a contact center’s phone system with a high volume of fake calls, causing it to become unavailable for legitimate customers. These attacks disrupt operations, delay customer service, and create significant financial losses due to downtime and missed opportunities. In critical industries like healthcare or emergency services, the impact can be particularly severe or even life-threatening.
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Data Breaches Contact centers store sensitive customer information, including personal details, financial data, and account credentials. Weak authentication systems leave these assets vulnerable to attackers who exploit stolen data for identity theft, fraud, or unauthorized access. Once a breach occurs, the consequences can be devastating—regulatory fines, legal actions, and a loss of customer trust that can take years to rebuild.
The Benefits of Superior Phone Call Authentication
Effective phone call authentication technology offers big advantages for contact centers. By addressing critical security vulnerabilities, these solutions not only protect businesses but also enhance their efficiency and reputation.
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Protecting Reputation A strong commitment to secure communication reflects positively on an organization’s brand and reputation. Customers and partners alike are more likely to trust a business that invests in advanced security measures to protect their interactions. call verification technology prevents fraud, scams, and unauthorized access, helping to build a reputation for secure communication that can be a competitive advantage.
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Increasing Operational Efficiencies Manual verification processes, such as asking security questions or escalating calls for identity checks, are time-consuming and frustrating for agents and customers. Superior phone call authentication technology automates these processes, reducing average call handling times and freeing agents to focus on more complex issues. This improved efficiency translates to faster resolution times, happier customers, and reduced operational costs.
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Preventing Financial Losses Fraud, scams, and data breaches can result in massive financial losses for businesses. Whether it’s stolen funds, legal penalties, or the costs of managing a breach, the financial impact can be devastating. Phone call authentication technology provides a robust defense by verifying the legitimacy of callers and detecting suspicious activity in real time.
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Ensuring Regulatory Compliance Meeting privacy and security regulations has become a top priority for businesses, particularly in industries like finance, healthcare, and retail. Regulations such as GDPR, PCI DSS, and HIPAA require robust security controls to protect sensitive customer data. Call authentication technology helps contact centers adhere to these rules by ensuring that only legitimate callers gain access to confidential information.
Phone Call Authentication Solutions
Contact centers use different types of phone call authentication technologies to ensure calls and callers are legitimate. Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses, so the best approach often involves combining several technologies for the strongest protection.
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ANI Validation Automatic Number Identification (ANI) validation checks the phone number of an incoming call against a trusted list or database to confirm it’s legitimate. This is a simple and affordable way to verify calls from known or repeat customers, making it a popular choice for industries like banking or healthcare. However, ANI validation doesn’t work well for new or unknown callers and can’t stop spoofing on its own. It’s a useful tool but works best when paired with other authentication methods.
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STIR/SHAKEN Protocols STIR (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Secure Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens) are protocols designed to prevent caller ID spoofing. They use digital certificates to confirm that a caller’s phone number is authentic. These protocols are very effective at blocking spoofed calls and helping customers trust caller ID again. However, they don’t work on older phone networks or for many international calls, and they only confirm the phone number, not the caller’s actual identity.
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Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA) KBA verifies callers by asking them security questions or for personal information, like account numbers or transaction history. It’s a familiar and easy-to-implement method, but it has big flaws. Hackers can often find or guess the answers to these questions, making KBA vulnerable to fraud. Customers also find it frustrating and outdated, especially when asked the same questions repeatedly. As a result, many businesses are moving away from KBA toward more secure options.
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Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) MFA uses two or more ways to verify a caller, such as passwords, one-time codes sent to a device, or biometric data like a voice or fingerprint. This method is very secure because it requires multiple layers of proof, making it much harder for fraudsters to succeed. MFA can be adapted to fit different situations, such as high-risk transactions. However, it can feel time-consuming for customers and requires businesses to invest in technology and training.
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Voice Biometrics Voice biometrics use a caller’s unique voice features—like pitch, tone, and rhythm—to verify their identity. This can be done actively, with callers speaking a specific phrase, or passively, by analyzing their voice during the conversation. Voice biometrics are highly accurate and provide a seamless customer experience, especially when used passively. However, they require an initial setup to record voiceprints and can struggle with poor call quality, background noise, or changes in a caller’s voice due to illness.
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Behavioral Analytics Behavioral analytics use artificial intelligence to analyze a caller’s behavior, such as speech patterns or how they navigate menus, to spot anything unusual. This method works quietly in the background, so customers don’t have to do anything extra. It’s great for identifying fraud attempts or suspicious behavior, but it requires a lot of data to be effective and can be expensive to set up. False positives and negatives are possible, so this technology works best when combined with other methods.
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AI-Based Authentication AI-based authentication pulls together multiple pieces of information, such as voice data, call history, and caller behavior, to confirm identity and detect fraud. The system learns and improves over time, becoming better at spotting threats and verifying legitimate callers. While highly effective, AI-based authentication requires significant investment and regular updates to stay ahead of evolving fraud tactics.
SecureLogix: Solutions for Call Authentication, Security, and Trust
SecureLogix offers industry-leading solutions that protect voice networks and contact centers from attack, disruption, fraud, and abuse. Our call authentication, branding, and security technologies provide a unified solution that addresses the full range of issues threatening the enterprise and the customer experience. With 20 years of experience profiling, tracking, and defending customers against the schemes and threats to voice networks, we offer proven solutions backed by the most skilled team in the industry.
SecureLogix® Orchestra One™: Smart, Affordable Phone Call Authentication
SecureLogix Orchestra One™ call authentication service combines automated, inbound call authentication with outbound call spoofing detection for a complete call trust solution that can scale across your entire enterprise.
Key Benefits
- Efficient Authentication Eliminate tedious and costly knowledge-based authentication techniques to enhance agent productivity while improving customer experiences.
- Low Per-Call Costs Dynamically orchestrate zero-cost and low-cost metadata services to authenticate calls at the lowest price.
- Effective Protection Identify trusted callers before the call is answered, preventing spoofing, fraud, and other threats.
SecureLogix® TrueCall™ Spoofing Protection Service
SecureLogix TrueCall™ is a caller id spoofing prevention solution that identifies and blocks fraudsters attempting to impersonate your brand by spoofing your corporate calling numbers. This outbound call software integrates with major wireless carriers and their call analytics vendors to block fraudsters attempting to impersonate your brand.
Key Benefits
- Block Spoofed Calls Prevent spoofing of your enterprise numbers with carrier-level filtering.
- Protect Reputation Safeguard the reputation scores of your corporate calling numbers.
- Increase Call Answer Rates Improve trust and answer rates by blocking spoofed calls.
FAQ
Q: What is phone call authentication?
Phone call authentication ensures both the call and the caller are legitimate, using tools like caller ID validation, MFA, and voice biometrics to prevent fraud and streamline communication.
Q: How does phone call authentication combat spoofing?
It validates the true origin of a call, flagging or blocking fake calls pretending to come from trusted organizations.
Q: What are the challenges of implementing phone call authentication solutions?
Challenges include legacy system compatibility, deployment costs, and training requirements for agents and customers.
Q: How does phone call authentication improve customer trust?
It reduces the risk of fraud, enhancing trust and loyalty by showing a commitment to secure communication.
Q: How do voice biometrics work?
Voice biometrics authenticate callers by analyzing their unique voice features and comparing them to pre-registered voiceprints.