Phone Masking
Introduction
When it comes to people and companies masking or put differently, hiding call information like the number has a fairly negative reputation. Generally viewed as a company wanting to hide something, or even more insidious reasons, are giving for the argument against phone masking. However, there are several strong cases for companies to mask data including call information like the phone number.
Phone Masking: a Definition
With the prevalence of smartphones and how often they are used day to day they have become a major security nightmare, and phone masking is sometimes seen as a tool used by cybercriminals to defraud and steal from victims. This begs the question of what exactly is phone masking. To give a definition to phone masking, it can be seen as simply hiding the caller’s number. It is true that it can be used for malicious reasons but good reasons do exist for companies to have call and data masking technology in place.
Are the identities truly hidden?
This is often the misconception central to all other misconceptions surrounding phone number masking. It is often wrongly assumed that the identities of the parties are hidden. In reality, each party knows who they are communicating with, it is just sensitive information that should remain private, is hidden. With the hidden numbers been locked away behind security measures and can’t be seen by either party the privacy of both the individual and company can be protected.
Privacy
An often overlooked requirement, but call masking can protect the privacy of employees and prevent abuse. It is a major reason for companies to adopt a Phone Number Masking Solution. This is best illustrated through an example. Take ever-popular ride-sharing apps, the details of the driver should be kept as private as the details of the rider. By using a masked number for both the driver and rider their privacy is protected. This also goes a long way to remain compliant with data privacy legislation like GDPR.
Preventing Predatory Behaviour
We live in an age where we share an awful amount of information online. Over the last few years, we are beginning to see the cost of that with information being used for malicious purposes. Many of us rely on social dating apps to try and find love, this opens up the possibility to promote predatory behavior. For that reason, many dating apps apply call masking protocols to communications between interested parties to protect sensitive information. This is closely related to protecting privacy but provides a direct real-world example of the importance of phone masking.
Detecting Abuse
Many call masking solutions provide a host of security features that enable calls to be logged. Data logged includes call duration and voice content, which is stored and can be analyzed in real-time or sometime in the future. This helps employees adhere to company call policy and prevents abuse. Further, calls can be strictly timed so that they only occur within specified limits placing the company in further control as to when, where, and how calls are made. This often has the side effect of improving customer relations as not only is their privacy maintained but a record of the call is kept.
Conclusion
While phone masking can be abused, the benefits to the company and customer to warrant its continued use. Privacy is protected and abuse of sensitive information prevented. It can further improve customer relations which in itself is reason enough to warrant its use.
