Keeping Your Data Safe: itel’s Advanced Cybersecurity Technologies Mitigate Thousands of Incidents Per Year

Today's growing threat landscape has made data security and data protection a topmost priority for customer experience providers in the BPO space. According to Check Point Research, cyber attacks on businesses have increased 57% since 2020, and contact centers can be prime targets, as they handle reams of sensitive customer data that could potentially be used for fraudulent or nefarious purposes. Find out how itel’s rigorous data protection standards, processes, and AI-infused technologies help identify threats before they become breaches, keeping both client and customer data safe as we monitor, mitigate, and maintain a safe network for our entire organization and frontline agents.  

Challenges 

There are several challenges when it comes to data security. Data must be secured from within and without. As a company, we must protect our internal data and systems. Clients also have proprietary company information and sensitive customer data to protect, as well as compliance requirements to meet, depending on their respective industry and region. Some examples are SOC II, PCI, or HIPAA compliance.  

All networks, and all system endpoints, including onsite workstations and work-at-home devices, as well as company issued devices for support staff, must be protected against brute force attempts to gain unauthorized access to company or client systems. Managing and mitigating any system vulnerabilities for thousands of devices and employees, as well as a complex, global IT infrastructure that spans 7 countries, requires a comprehensive process and multifaceted solutions. These must address not just the ever-evolving threat landscape and increasingly sophisticated attacks, but also guard against human error and actions that could unwittingly compromise the security or integrity of itel networks. 

Solutions 

Our Information Security team follows SIEM best practices (Security Information & Event Management) and the NIST Framework to better manage and reduce cybersecurity risk, and proactively address potential system vulnerabilities before any incident occurs that could disrupt business operations.

We use advanced artificial intelligence (AI) cybersecurity systems to monitor our networks. Theses systems use machine learning to identify normal behavior for a user or device and can flag potentially malicious activity or any activity that deviates from learned patterns, such as large data transfers or data being accessed externally without authorization. The AI generates automated alerts, and each incident is assigned a risk score based on the severity and urgency of the threat detected. The AI can then take intelligent, measured actions, such as quarantining compromised devices or preventing data exfiltration, that stall cyber threats in real-time to mitigate damage and data loss. While incidents that require further investigation are referred automatically to our Infosec team for follow-up.  

To protect customer data within the contact center environment, we equip all endpoint systems, including contact center workstations and work-at-home devices, with: 

• Anti-virus and data loss protection (DLP) solutions - which prevents sensitive customer data from being accessed externally or internally.  
• All accounts have data segregation, which ensures that no system resources are shared by any two accounts – all data traffic is segregated and separated, using separate servers and networks. 
• All devices are configured to prevent access to certain applications and websites that could pose a security threat.  

• Multifactor authentication (MFA) and virtual private networks (VPN) required to access company systems, databases, or cloud storage.  
• Our login solution monitors all device logins, noting access time, location, user, and IP address. Anything that deviates from established patterns is automatically blocked. Alerts are sent to our security team to investigate.  
• Company-wide policies and protocols that align with NIST best practices, including regular security and compliance audits. 
• Manual incident tracking and reporting by Infosec team, to build in redundancies that ensure no threats are missed. 
• Regular vulnerability scans, both internal and external, penetration testing, account segmentation testing, regular patching updates on devices, switches, and routers. 

Outcomes 

Our advanced cybersecurity systems remediate up to 80% of security incidents automatically, without the need for human intervention. In one year alone, the AI identifies and mitigates thousands of anomalous incidents, from unusual internal data transfers to anomalous file activities, unauthorized access attempts by external endpoints and most especially brute force attacks. It also identifies the level of compliance with email rules and acts if they contravene our security policies.  

In fact, clients can rest assured that their data, and those of their customers, will remain safe in our hands, thanks to itel's cutting-edge security solutions, our comprehensive company-wide policies, as well as our stringent data security protocols, which are all backed by our team's manual process for incident tracking, reporting and investigation.   

Learn more about itel’s CX technology, and how we keep your data secure using AI-enhanced tools to deliver better, safer service to your customers. Contact us today.