VOICE SECURITY – Financial Services
Case Study
Hit by a storm of unwanted calls, this integrated health and financial services organization put their trust in Mutare.
Summary
The Client
As one of the largest Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) affiliates in the US, this integrated healthcare and financial services network delivers a diversified spectrum of services to more than 7 million members nationwide.
The Problem
This organization was experiencing a growing trend of unwanted call intrusions spreading throughout its diverse network of health and financial services business units. However, when a two-day cyber-attack hit its health insurance division’s contact center lines with a debilitating flood of unwanted and potentially nefarious calls, they knew the problem had become a true threat. Making matters worse, the hoped-for protection promised through a dedicated SBC call filtering solution fell through when their SBC provider withdrew support for that application.
The Impact
- Influx of spam and scam calls overwhelming IVR and SBC-based protections
- Dead-air calls undermining contact center efficiency and service for legitimate customer callers
- Nefarious IVR probing activity signaling criminal presence, threat of breach
- IT and security resources consumed with suspect voice traffic monitoring and mitigation efforts
The Solution
Mutare’s Voice Traffic Filter not only filled the voice security void left by the organization’s SBC provider, but it delivered significant improvements in overall unwanted call detection and filtering capabilities, user controls, and visibility.
Customer Perspective
IT Team Manager
“We could see right away this was a mature system that could deliver exactly what we wanted and support us exactly where we needed support.”
Full Story
The Impact
This organization was experiencing a growing tide of unwanted calls spreading throughout its diverse network of health and financial services business units. However, when a two-day cyber-attack struck the health insurance division’s contact center with a debilitating flood of unwanted and potentially nefarious calls, they knew the problem had become a true threat. This influx of auto-generated calls from a rapid rotation of spoofed numbers carried the tell-tale markers of a nefarious IVR mapping campaign whereby persistent automated probing eventually maps a pathway for calls to reach an agent endpoint. Not only were agents attending to these “dead air” calls at the expense of efficient response to legitimate member callers, but such reconnaissance probing is often a precursor to future criminal breach attempts.
As affirmed by the IT Team Manager, “There was a definite pattern, but it was very dispersed. Calls came in chunks from numerous sources and they were hitting across our entire healthcare insurance side.” Having spent countless hours analyzing these patterns without any effective means of mitigation, this group turned to their SBC provider, hoping that adding its dedicated call filtering application to their network would help. However, notes the IT Manager, “Trying to understand what that solution could do was a challenge. Communications were poor. We felt like we were the guinea pigs.” Eventually, their SBC provider opted to abandon their venture into call filtering, leaving IT administrators in search of an alternate, ideally better, replacement.
Voice Security Made Possible
In the wake of sunsetting its own dedicated call filtering application, the organization’s SBC provider recommended they look to Mutare to fill the gap. Mutare representatives promptly responded, providing a demonstration of their Voice Traffic Filter application so IT admins could see for themselves its superior call filtering capabilities, user controls, and reporting function. The difference was night and day. As reported by the IT Team Manger, “We could see right away this was a mature system that could deliver exactly what we wanted and support us exactly where we needed support.”
Applying the Right Voice Security Solution
The application’s graphical User Interface provided IT administrators with a clear visualization of the the wanted/unwanted makeup of their organization’s incoming calls, as well as how those calls would be managed (allow through, drop, or route to another resource). Beyond its dynamic database, Voice Traffic Filter applies multiple additional filtering technologies capable of detecting a broad spectrum of unwanted call markers and behaviors.
Significantly, this group discovered that the spam storm that triggered their initial search for a filtering solution could have been easily diverted at the onset through Voice Traffic Filter’s sophisticated Threat Radar anomalous call detection capabilities.
A particularly welcome element of Voice Traffic Filter for this group, as well, is the power and flexibility of its user controls. Voice Traffic Filter enables admins to configure filtering activity at the individual business unit level without extensive IT involvement. Equally important to them was the depth of detail provided through the application’s downloadable Call Activity reports, providing much-needed intelligence to support both telephony and security strategy formation going forward. Not only could they see the superior level of protection Voice Traffic Filter would provide for their organization as a whole, but also the significant amount of time it would save at the IT administrative level.
However, there was another condition that required full examination before this organization could commit to the Mutare call filtering solution. As a health insurance provider entrusted with large volumes of personally identifiable information (PII), this organization expects the highest standards of data security and privacy enforcement from all third-party IT service and solution providers. Mutare was able to meet all required measures with its robust voice security and HIPAA compliance programs as well as its AHA Preferred Cybersecurity and Risk Provider status.
With that final assurance, leadership approved purchase and implementation of Voice Traffic Filter for the protection of its voice network, employees, and the people they serve.
