Case study: Security strategy and technology (P. 287)

Teleperformance passport

Founded in 1978 by Daniel Julien, Teleperformance is now the world leader in CRM call center outsourcing. Teleperformance serves 70+ countries through 270 contact centers with 103,000+ agents (employees) that speak 66+ languages. Agents handle more than 1.5 billion contacts annually using 83,000 workstations. Their worldwide corporate clients include, but are not limited to, the automotive, financial services, information technology, insurance ISP, and telecommunications industries.

Teleperformance takes extraordinary steps to ensure the quality and integrity of their contact centers by certifying their process and information systems. Some of the certifications Teleperformance maintains include COPC (Americas), PCI, DSE, and ISO 9001-2000. They also create proprietary information systems and process to increase CRM quality and reduce fraud. Teleperformance Passport is one of these systems.

Reducing Fraud

Call centers of all kind, both internal and outsourced, are at risk of fraudulent activity because of the vast amount of personally identifiable information (PII) agents have access to. This information can include social security, credit card, and bank account numbers. Fraud can be reduced by clearly and correctly identifying all agent behavior within the CRM system.

Teleperformance recently developed and implemented a voice biometric system (TP Passport) used for authenticating users. An agents identity is verified through a multifactor authentication system. All subsequent activity is tied to the agent. This authentication process makes it more difficult for individuals intending to commit fraud to mask their identity.

Teleperformance Passport

TP Passport uses a voice biometric authentication system to provide nonrepudiation of who is trying to access the system. It provides access control and logging features for each user who accesses internal systems, tools, and applications. TP Passport provides end-to-end authentication and eliminates the possibility for other users to authenticate as someone else.

TP Passport requires agents to provide username, password, PIN, and voiceprint in order to access system resources. One unique feature of TP Passport is that it compares voice patterns using proprietary algorithms to allow or deny access. If an agent (user) fails to authenticate with TP Passport then a message is sent to a supervisor for manual verification. Here is how it works.

1. An agent logs in using his or her username and password. A request is made to TP Passport for authentication.
2. TP Passport uses a voice dialer to call the agents desk phone and asks for his or her PIN.
3. The agent enters his or her employee PIN into the phone.
4. TP Passport asks the agent to repeat a challenge text into the phone.
5. The agent reads the challenge text into the phone.
6. The agent is then authenticated.

Benefits of TP Passport

TP Passports multifactor authentication system substantially reduces fraud and lowers operating costs. Agents cannot log in as another user and commit fraud using a compromised account. Password guessing, shoulder surfing, keyloggers, and social engineering are rendered ineffective. TP Passport also provides secure single-sign-on capability which reduces the need for agents to remember multiple sets of usernames and passwords.

One of the biggest financial benefits of using TP Passport is that it increases revenue. TP Passport attracts more corporate clients because it shows that Teleperformance is actively and effectively engaged in reducing fraud. Corporate clients are more likely to sign up for Teleperformance CRM contact center services because their customers data are more secure than they would be at another internal or external call center.

Case Discussion Questions:

1. What is the multiple-factor authentication? (20 points)
2. Which is more secure, USB token technique or card technique? (30 points)
3. Which is more secure to use; password or biometric authentication? (30 points)
4. How can Teleperformance Passport provide high authentication measure? (20 points)