In an increasingly networked world, private and confidential information is continually at risk. While the Internet has brought business a whole host of advantages, it has also brought challenges. Foremost among them are security challenges. Large enterprises spend millions of dollars every year trying to address security challenges and ensure their data are protected from both hackers working externally and malicious employees with a grudge internally.

The contact center is particularly vulnerable when it comes to security, as this department is the one that sees the most confidential information, handling thousands or even millions of personal data transactions each year. The need and awareness for heightened security surrounding the contact center and related applications has become increasingly important as the threat of cyber-crime expands. The continued and ongoing acceptance and growth of cloud-based contact centers are quickly colliding with an explosion in security intrusions and violations across the industry, requiring intensified corporate vigilance and compliance with new and enhanced security standards.

While large entities such as power plants and financial services organizations may be fully aware of the security risk they face (and that’s a big “maybe”), many small to mid-sized companies choose to believe that they are too “small fries” to worry about data theft. This is an erroneous belief: as long as there is any personal customer information being tracked, the contact center will be a tempting target, no matter how small.

The need is particularly urgent today, thanks to contact centers’ increasing reliance on cloud-based technologies. With so many contact center solutions migrating to the cloud, there are new specific requirements for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI (News - Alert) DSS) compliance “in the cloud,” including for those connected agents working remotely or at home without close supervision.

In addition, there are legal obligations contact centers have today to keeping private data secure. Earlier this year, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) Council augmented its security requirements with supplemental guidelines specifically directed at cloud service providers.

On Wednesday, October 16^th at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT, contact center solutions provider Echopass will present a Web-based educational event that will discuss what has recently changed with PCI standards and specifically address cloud providers. Topics to be covered include why the stakes have never been higher for critical security attentiveness; what level of diligence should a provider be performing with suppliers; what are the implications for call recording and IVR; and what are the key vulnerabilities that today’s contact center professionals should be aware of.

Dennis Empey, Chief Security Officer and SVP of Operations with Echopass will join John Kindervag, principal analyst serving security and risk professionals with Forrester (News - Alert) Inc., and Eric Fisher, a security consultant with PCI Quality Assurance, to help contact centers understand if their operations are truly secure, and if not, how to address these security issues. Attendees will learn about what new cloud guidelines mean for contact centers and PCI DSS Version 2.0 Level 1 Service Provider requirements, where attention should be placed today to update security in the contact center, and what level of PCI DSS compliance is necessary to protect call center operations.

For more information or to register, visit TMCnet.