Some days, you’ve got to wonder how many people are listening in on your telephone calls or other messages. From news that the NSA is collecting data about your phone calls to the U.K. spy agency GCHQ being accused of intercepting millions of Yahoo Web cam images, it seems like these days, everyone is fascinated with your business.
It may not even be our live telephone calls that are being listened to: it would appear that recorded phone calls aren’t safe, either. A recording of an illegally intercepted telephone call allegedly between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son is making waves this week. In the call, Erdogan is reportedly ordering his son, Bilal, to get rid of large amounts of cash -- as much as $1 billion – in relatives homes in advance of a raid by police. The call is reawakening charges of corruption in Turkey, as it seems to implicate the sons of three former ministers, businessmen and the general manager of a state-owned bank, according to a recent article in the English language publication Today’s Zaman, which is publishing a full transcript of the article.
The call recordings, should they be proven to originate from Erdogan, would have been made over an encrypted line, but it’s unclear who made the recordings or where they were stored. Should they prove to have been part of a routine process of recording all calls, the lesson here (for Erdogan, his son and anyone else implicated in the article) is that all the telephone security in the world won’t protect you if you don’t store call recordings securely.
In the business world, you may not fear being exposed laundering corrupt money (we hope), but your call recordings may contain sensitive information, such as customer banking information, account numbers, information on new campaigns and credit card numbers.
For companies in certain industries, keeping call recordings secure is a matter of federal rules and regulations. Companies in financial services and health care must be able to verify compliance with laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other regulations that require comprehensive information security planning.
Many companies are choosing call recording solutions both to protect themselves from liability by proving compliance and to protect any sensitive information they may be storing in the form of call recordings. Cloud-based call recording solutions providers such as SIP Print (News - Alert) can help companies limit liability by documenting verbal requests and authorizations, verifying contractual compliance and arbitrating disputes.
“Today, many businesses are simply required to record phone calls for an undisputable record of transactions,” according to SIP Print’s website. “Others find that implementing a call recording solution offers the most effective and affordable way to demonstrate a pattern of compliance.”
It’s a common error for many companies: they strive to keep their live communications secure, but leave call recordings exposed to nearly anyone who wants to listen to them. Ensure that your recorded calls are stored in such a way that means you’re not only compliant with the rules, but that you won’t be exposed to a thief who finds that your recorded calls are a treasure trove for an identity thief.
Edited by Alisen Downey