Protecting sensitive information provided by a party to a contact center

• US 9,307,084 B1
• Filed: 07/29/2014
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Pycko, Marcin, Koster, Karl H.
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Simon
• Application Number:
  US14/445,501
• Time in Patent Office: 616 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/5009 Adding a party to an existing conference conducting a computer conference, e.g. admission detection H04L12/1822
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6009 Personal information, e.g. profiles or personal directories being only provided to authorised persons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6027 Fraud preventions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/609 Secret communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1295 Details of dual tone multiple frequency signalling

Abstract

In one embodiment, a secure mechanism operates in conjunction with a three-way bridge in a contact center to protect against inadvertent exposure of sensitive information provided during a call. During the call, an agent may bridge on an interactive voice response system (“IVR”) onto the call prompting the party to enter sensitive information, such as a credit card account number, to effect a payment. The information may be provided by the party using dual-tone multiple frequency (“DTMF”) tones or speech. The IVR may provide a confirmatory announcement indicating the sensitive information received. A switch may be controlled by the IVR so that any sensitive information expected from the party or provided by the IVR in a confirmatory announcement is not presented to the agent or to a recording system. In this manner, the IVR suppresses the exposure of sensitive information to the agent and/or a recording system.

Claims

1. A system for controlling whether an agent in a contact center is exposed to sensitive information, comprising:

a three-way bridge connected to a call between a remote party and the agent; and

an interactive voice response (“

IVR”

) unit,

wherein the IVR unit is bridged via the three-way bridge onto the call as directed by the agent in order to collect a first piece of sensitive information provided by the remote party,

wherein the IVR unit controls whether SIP-based information conveying the first piece of sensitive information is provided to the agent by controlling a switch, and

wherein the IVR unit is configured to;

select a first announcement to play to the remote party,

determine whether the first announcement to be played to the remote party conveys a second piece of sensitive information,

if the first announcement to be played conveys the second piece of sensitive information, then control the switch so that the second piece of sensitive information is not conveyed to the agent, and

if the first announcement does not convey the second piece of sensitive information, then control the switch to convey the first announcement to the agent.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the IVR unit is further configured to:

determine whether a response to the first announcement to be played to the remote party is expected to convey a third piece of sensitive information;

if the response is expected to convey the third piece of sensitive information, then cause the switch to not convey the response to the agent; and

if the response is not expected to convey the third piece of sensitive information, then cause the switch to convey the response to the agent.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the third piece of sensitive information in the response from the remote party comprises keypad information originating from the remote party and received in a SIP-based message at the IVR unit.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the IVR unit controls whether the SIP-based information conveying the first piece of sensitive information is provided to the agent by controlling whether the switch provides the SIP-based information to a workstation of the agent comprising a softphone.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the IVR unit is further configured to:

retrieve data from a memory storing an indication whether the first announcement conveys the second piece of sensitive information; and

use the indication to control whether at least a portion of the first announcement is conveyed to the agent.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the IVR unit is further configured to:

retrieve data from a memory storing an indication whether a response expected by the remote party to the first announcement conveys a third piece of sensitive information; and

use the indication to control whether at least a portion of the response expected by the remote party is conveyed to the agent.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the IVR unit is further configured to:

select a second announcement to play to the remote party;

determine whether the second announcement to be played to the remote party conveys a fourth piece of sensitive information;

if the second announcement to be played conveys the fourth piece of sensitive information, then cause the switch to not convey at least a portion of the second announcement to the agent; and

if the second announcement does not convey the fourth piece of sensitive information, then cause the switch to convey the second announcement to the agent.

8. A method for controlling whether an agent in a contact center is exposed to sensitive information provided in conjunction with an interaction of a remote party and an interactive voice response (“

IVR”

) unit, the method comprising;

receiving a command from the agent to bridge on the IVR unit to a call between the remote party and the agent;

retrieving by the IVR unit a first indication associated with a first announcement to be provided to the remote party, the first indication indicating whether the first announcement conveys a first piece of sensitive information that the agent should not hear;

in response to determining the first indication indicating the first announcement conveys the first piece of sensitive information, causing a switch to be opened by the IVR unit thereby preventing one or more SIP-based messages comprising the first piece of sensitive information to be conveyed to a workstation used by the agent; and

providing the first announcement to the remote party.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether an expected response from the remote party to the first announcement conveys a second piece of sensitive information;

if the expected response conveys the second piece of sensitive information, then causing the switch to be opened by the IVR unit thereby preventing at least a portion of the expected response to be conveyed to the workstation; and

if the expected response does not convey the second piece of sensitive information, then causing the switch to be closed by the IVR unit thereby conveying the expected response to the workstation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether the expected response from the remote party to the first announcement conveys the second piece of sensitive information is performed by:

retrieving data from a memory storing an indication whether the expected response by the remote party to the first announcement conveys the second piece of sensitive information; and

using the indication to determine whether the expected response from the remote party to the first announcement conveys the second piece of sensitive information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the second piece of sensitive information is conveyed using SIP-Notify messages and comprises credit card information entered by the remote party in response to the first announcement requesting payment information.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

upon detection of the second piece of sensitive information by the IVR unit from the remote party, causing a dummy tone or a masking sound to be presented to the agent in lieu of the second piece of sensitive information.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the workstation comprises a softphone configured to convey the first announcement in an audible form to the agent.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a plurality of announcements to the agent by the IVR unit; and

causing the switch to be opened a plurality of times by the IVR unit, wherein each opening of the switch occurs after providing one of the plurality of announcements.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive a command to bridge onto a call between a remote party and an agent;

retrieve a first indication associated with a first announcement to be provided to the remote party, the first indication indicating whether the first announcement conveys a first piece of sensitive information that the agent should not hear;

in response to determining the first announcement conveys the first piece of sensitive information, cause a switch to be opened thereby preventing one or more SIP-based messages indicating the first piece of sensitive information to be conveyed to a workstation used by the agent; and

provide the first announcement to the remote party.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

determine whether an expected response to the first announcement conveys a second piece of sensitive information;

if the expected response conveys the second piece of sensitive information, then cause the switch to not convey the expected response to the workstation; and

if the expected response does not convey the second piece of sensitive information, then cause the switch to convey the expected response to the workstation.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

cause the switch to be closed after providing the first announcement to the remote party, whereby a response from the remote party is provided to the agent.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

provide a plurality of announcements to the agent; and

cause the switch to be opened a plurality of times, wherein each opening of the switch occurs after providing one of the plurality of announcements.