UK firm boosts security for call centre payments

Call centre fraud costs millions a year

UK security firm Veritape has released a new device which it claims can help protect banks and consumers from credit card fraud committed through call centres.

The company said that CallGuard could save hundreds of millions of pounds a year by limiting so-called "audio data thefts" which involve the eavesdropping and analysis of recorded phone calls which contain personal and banking information.

CallGuard can be set up in minutes, according to Veritape, in comparison to the months involved in comparable systems.

A recent study by the firm found that 93 per cent of non-compliance with security regulations in UK call centres is down to the "complexity and cost of compliance".

"The beauty of Veritape CallGuard is that it is a 'plug and play' technology. There is no complicated or expensive integration with current systems, and it simply 'bolts on' to the existing set-up," said Cameron Ross, managing director of Veritape.

"We believe that there will be a global market for our new box of tricks."

CallGuard protects phone records including personal details by blocking the tones produced when a customer keys in a number, while saving them into password-style fields which are then obscured by asterisks.

Call centres need only add one small shoebox-style appliance to their network, along with a USB device at each workstation, to protect customers, according to Ross.

"Data theft is literally an everyday occurrence, costing billions worldwide every year," he said. "CallGuard plugs a very large hole in data security and removes any risk to the customer by shielding the data from potential fraudsters."