Semafone, a secure payment software company, has signed an agreement with a UK insurer to cover customers who pay over the phone.
Semafone, whose software is for use in contact centres, speaks of a need for greater compliance and tighter security within the insurance sector. A recent survey from Semafone found that many insurers in the US and UK are still taking data security risks by asking customers to read card details out loud. What’s more, nine out of ten in the UK still reported using the inadequate system of pausing call recordings to avoid the capture of card details.
Semafone’s Cardprotect product will let customers pay for insurance products by entering their payment card numbers into their phone’s keypad, rather than saying them aloud. For the insurer, this means that customer card data is protected and that the telephone payment system complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which regulates card payments.
As none of the sensitive card details are spoken, Semafone Cardprotect will allow the company to record calls in their entirety. PCI DSS prohibits the recording of sensitive card data, such as the three-digit security code on the back of the card. Likewise in the financial services sector, the UK’s FCA regulations frequently require the capture of complete calls.
With Cardprotect, the numbers are transmitted to the payment processor, without being stored on company IT systems. The keypad tones are disguised to ensure numbers cannot be identified by their sound, and the agent can continue the conversation while the caller is entering their details.
Semafone’s CEO, Tim Critchley, said: “The insurance industry is taking customer payment data increasingly seriously, which is driving the adoption of Cardprotect to prevent contact centre fraud. In such a heavily regulated sector, it’s crucial that customer payment data is protected fully so it’s great to see one more major player who won’t be asking people to read their card numbers out.” Visit www.semafone.com.
