Systems and Methods for Recording an Encrypted Interaction

• US 20080065902A1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Witness Systems Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Williams, Jamie Richard, Calahan, Marc Adam, Spohrer, Daniel Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,881,471 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

Systems and methods for recording an encrypted contact center interaction.

Claims

1. A system for recording an encrypted data stream, the encrypted data comprising a contact center interaction, the system comprising:

a control protocol switch interface configured to interface with a protocol switch and receive an interaction setup signal, the interaction setup signal including an exchange of encryption key information associated with an interaction;

an encryption key information buffer coupled to the control protocol switch interface, the encryption key information buffer being configured to receive the encryption key information and hold the encryption key information;

a data switch interface configured to interface with a data switch and receive an encrypted data stream associated with the interaction, the encrypted data stream being encrypted such that devices that do not have an encryption key associated with the encrypted data stream are inhibited from reviewing the interaction data;

a recording module configured to record the interaction;

wherein the system is operable to subsequently decrypt the encrypted data stream using associated encryption key information held in the encryption key information buffer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a party to the interaction.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is not a party to the interaction.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the encryption key information is provided via an external interface.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the recording module receives a duplicate media stream representing the interaction, and the encryption key information is received from the source of the duplicate media stream.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the system negotiates to receive the encryption key information during setup of the interaction.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the encryption key information is obtained via a control protocol interface between the system and the control protocol switch.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the control protocol is unencrypted.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the control protocol is encrypted.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the encryption key information used to decrypt the control protocol is requested from the control protocol switch based upon an endpoint or call identification, and is provided during the interaction or after the interaction is complete.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a soft-phone bank operable to receive interactions and communicate the interactions to the recording module.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the recording module comprises a decryption buffer and is configured to decrypt the encrypted data stream in volatile storage prior to storage to a data store using the decryption buffer.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising an encryption module configured to generate a new key separately from the encryption key information used to encrypt the interaction, the encryption module being further configured to re-encrypt the decrypted interaction data using the new key.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the encrypted data stream is decrypted at runtime before the recording logic records the interaction.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the control protocol switch interface is further configured to determine whether an interaction is encrypted or unencrypted based upon the setup signal received from the control protocol switch, wherein the data switch is configured to capture the unencrypted interaction and the recording module is configured to record the unencrypted interaction.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising an encryption module configured to generate a key and to encrypt the unencrypted interaction using the generated key.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a storage module configured to store the recorded interaction to a non-volatile data store, wherein the encryption module encrypts the unencrypted interaction prior to the information being stored to the non-volatile data store.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the recording logic is operable to record the encrypted data stream comprising the interaction to a non-volatile data store, the system further comprising:

an encryption key information data store configured retrieve the encryption key information from the encryption key information buffer and to store the encryption key information in non-volatile storage;

decryption engine configured to retrieve the encryption key information from the encryption key information data store and to decrypt the encrypted data stream after it has been recorded to the non-volatile data store.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the decryption engine uses idle processor cycles to decrypt the encrypted data stream.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the encryption key information comprises an encryption key and the encryption key is securely passed between the encryption key information buffer and the decryption engine.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the encryption key is encrypted prior to storage in the encryption key information data store.

22. The system of claim 1, further comprising an encryption engine configured re-encrypt the interaction data after the interaction data has been decrypted.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the encryption engine is further configured to encrypt any unencrypted data stream prior to the interaction data being written to a non-volatile data store.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the encryption engine is further configured to encrypt any unencrypted interaction data after the interaction data has been written to a non-volatile data store, the encryption engine using idle processor time to encrypt the unencrypted interaction data.

25. A method for recording encrypted interaction data, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an interaction setup signal at a recording device, the interaction setup signal comprising encryption key information associated with interaction data;

storing the encryption key information in a key storage, the key storage being configured to store encryption key information for retrieval;

receiving encrypted data stream at the recording device, the encrypted data stream representing an encrypted form of interaction data, the encryption being configured to inhibit review of the interaction data without an encryption key;

storing the interaction data in a system data store; and

wherein the encrypted interaction data is operable to be decrypted using the stored encryption key information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the recording device is a party to the interaction.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the recording device is not a party to the interaction.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the encryption key information is provided via an external interface.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the data switch interface receives a duplicate media stream representing the interaction, and the encryption key information is received from the source of the duplicate media stream.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the recording device negotiates to receive the encryption key information during setup of the interaction.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the encryption key information is obtained via a control protocol sent between the recording device and a control protocol switch.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the control protocol is unencrypted.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the control protocol is encrypted.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the encryption key information used to decrypt the control protocol is requested from the control protocol switch based upon an endpoint or call identification, and is provided during the interaction or after the interaction is complete.

35. The method of claim 25, further comprising providing a soft-phone bank at the recording device, the softphone bank being operable to receive interactions and route the interactions to a contact center agent.

36. The method of claim 25, further comprising storing the encrypted data in memory prior to storage to a data store using a decryption buffer.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising generating a new encryption key, and re-encrypting the decrypted interaction data using the new encryption key.

38. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of decrypting the encrypted data stream at runtime prior to storing the interaction data to the system data store.

39. The method of claim 26, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the interaction is encrypted or unencrypted based upon the interaction setup signal;

capturing any unencrypted data stream associated with the interaction; and

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising;

generating an encryption key; and

encrypting the unencrypted interaction using the generated key.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising;

storing the recorded interaction to a non-volatile data store; and

encrypting the unencrypted interaction prior to the information being stored to the non-volatile data store.

42. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

recording the encrypted data stream comprising the interaction data directly to a non-volatile interaction data store;

storing the encryption key information in a non-volatile encryption key information data store;

retrieving the encryption key information from the non-volatile encryption key information data store; and

decrypting the encrypted data stream after it has been recorded to the non-volatile interaction data store.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

detecting when a processor associated with the recording device is experiencing idle time; and

using the processor'"'"'s idle time to decrypt the encrypted data stream using a decryption engine executed by the recording device.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the encryption key information comprises an encryption key, the method further comprising the step of securely passing the encryption key information between non-volatile encryption key information data store and the decryption engine.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the encryption key information is encrypted prior to storage in the non-volatile encryption key information data store.

46. The method of claim 25, further comprising independently re-encrypting the interaction data after the interaction data has been decrypted using an encryption engine.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising encrypting any unencrypted data stream prior to the interaction data being written to a non-volatile data store.

48. The method of claim 46, further comprising detecting a period of low processor usage at the recording device;

using the period of low processor usage to encrypt any unencrypted interaction data stored on a non-volatile data store.

49. The method of claim 25, wherein the interaction data is stored without decrypting the data, thereby storing encrypted data stream.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the interaction data is decrypted using the stored encryption key information associated with the encrypted data stream during a period of time when a computer processor associated with the receiving and storing steps is in a period of low usage.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein the interaction data is decrypted using the stored encryption key information associated with the encrypted data stream upon receiving a request from a playback module.