Secure Telephone Transaction System with Masked Customer Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
During telephone transactions, customers face challenges in securely providing sensitive information to customer service representatives, as they often lack assurance about the representative's trustworthiness and must manually share billing information, which is time-consuming and insecure.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that establish a telephonic connection between a customer and a customer service representative, using an electronic device to input identifying information non-verbally, which is then confirmed and stored securely, allowing access to a customer profile without revealing sensitive information to the representative, enabling secure and efficient data transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If customers provide billing information directly to customer service representatives during telephone transactions, then the transaction can be completed, but security is compromised and the process is time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts sensitive billing information from the telephone communication channel and stores it securely in a customer profile database. The customer service representative only receives non-sensitive identifiers (like the last four digits of a credit card) during the call, while the actual billing information is retrieved securely from the database, eliminating both security risks and manual data entry time
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-storing customer billing information in secure databases before telephone transactions occur. When a customer calls, their information is already verified and stored, allowing rapid retrieval and processing without requiring the customer to verbally provide sensitive data during the call
2Productivity
If customer service representatives access customer billing information during calls, then order processing is efficient, but trust and security assurance are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments information into sensitive billing data (stored securely in databases, not displayed to representatives) and non-sensitive identifiers (shared during calls). This segmentation allows representatives to efficiently process orders using identifiers while the actual billing information remains protected in secure storage, maintaining both productivity and trust
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary system (secure database with automated retrieval) between the customer service representative and the customer's billing information. The representative interacts with the intermediary through secure channels to access necessary data without directly viewing or handling sensitive information, maintaining efficiency while enhancing security and customer trust
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a communications module that establishes a telephonic connection between a customer service representative of a company and a customer. An identification send module sends an identifier that alerts the customer service representative that the customer has a customer profile that includes information to identify the customer. An ID request receiver module receives a request to provide identifying information via the electronic device and displays the request to the customer. An ID input module receives the identifying information from the customer and masks the identifying information from the customer service representative. An ID comparison module compares the identifying information input by the customer with the information in the customer profile. An ID confirmation transmit module transmits an identification confirmation to the computer system of the company in response to the identifying information input by the customer matching the information to identify the customer in the customer profile.