As technology becomes more and more advanced, criminals will find more and more ways to take advantages of those technologies for financial gain. From identity theft to VoIP fraud, cyber criminals have found ways to exploit any number of different telecommunications solutions. But contact center transformation expert West Interactive (News - Alert) points out in its blog that there is another, lesser known type of cyber crime out there: IVR fraud.

Breaking into an interactive voice response system is on way for crooks to sneak into a company’s database. The criminals use the error- or failure-prompting functions in the IVR to get access to data that is supposed to be secure.

“When designing error prompting for sensitive information, it is safer to be vague,” said Shelly Moore, a speech analyst for West Corporation, who specializes in designing voice interfaces. She states the importance of having the IVR say “Sorry, that information cannot be validated,” instead of “Sorry, that social security number doesn’t match our records.”

These vague replies are preferred by information security experts because hackers are using sophisticated programs to hammer away at IVR systems in an effort to snatch up valid information. This is one reason why companies should look into creating secure tuning systems for their speech services, refining and improving IVR speech application performance. These systems will restrict access to sensitive information, create audit trails for use in cases of breach and conform to data security best practices.

In this technological age, when it is easier than ever for the bad guys to get access to our information, it is of the utmost importance to look at all potential security breaches, and shoring up a potentially faulty IVR system is a good practice that will benefit customers and corporations alike.

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