How to redact or mask voice call recording?

In today's digital age, voice call recording has become common for businesses and individuals. But with this increased use, concerns about privacy and security have also arisen. In this blog post, we will discuss why redaction of voice call recording is essential and how to redact voice call recordings effectively.

What is voice call recording?

Voice call recording captures and stores audio conversations over telephone lines, VoIP, or other communication platforms. These recordings can be used for various purposes, such as quality assurance, training, legal compliance, and dispute resolution.

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Why should one redact or mask voice call recordings?

Redacting voice call recordings means removing or obscuring sensitive information to protect the privacy and security of the individuals involved. This is crucial, especially when sharing recordings through customer support, email, Slack, or file-sharing platforms.

For example, consider a customer support call where customers provide their credit card information for billing purposes. If this call is recorded and shared without redaction, the sensitive data may be exposed, leading to potential identity theft and financial fraud. Redacting the recording ensures that only the necessary information is retained while sensitive data remains protected.

Are there any fines if voice call recordings are not redacted?

Yes, there can be fines and penalties if voice call recordings containing sensitive or personal information are not redacted, leading to a data breach or privacy violation. The fines and penalties depend on the jurisdiction and specific regulations governing data privacy in your area.

For example, under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), organizations can face fines of up to €20 million or 4% of their annual global turnover, whichever is higher, for non-compliance with data protection requirements. This includes mishandling personal data in voice call recordings.

In the United States, various state and federal regulations, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), also impose fines and penalties for privacy violations related to improperly handling or securing personal information, which can include voice call recordings.

To avoid fines and protect the privacy of individuals involved, it's essential to follow best practices for redacting sensitive information from voice call recordings, adhere to relevant data protection laws and regulations, and have a robust data security plan in place.

How to redact voice call recording?

Strac provides APIs and No-Code solutions to automatically detect and redact sensitive data in a voice call recording.

1. Remove voice call recording from SaaS apps & replace with a secure Link

Let's take an example: If a customer submits a voice call recording that contains credit card details or customer PII like billing address, name, and identification details, Strac will remove the recording. Strac has built-in integrations with Slack, Zendesk, Intercom, Gmail, Office 365 and more.

2. ‎Redact sensitive data elements from voice call recording

You can also configure Strac where only sensitive data elements in the voice call recording are redacted. In that case, the original voice call recording will be removed and a new voice call recording that has redacted information will be uploaded.

Sample Request

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.test.tokenidvault.com/redact' \
--header 'X-Api-Key: <your API key>' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
  "document_id": "doc_65T78zexKxbqUz34gbLGiX",
  "document_type": "generic"  
}'

Sample Response

{
  "detectedEntities": [
    {
      "type": "SOCIAL_SECURITY_NUMBER",
      "token_id": "tkn_lvCJl350FVc4WMmYaPTjquum"
    }
  ],
  "redactedContent": "Hello, please process the user with SSN tkn_lvCJl350FVc4WMmYaPTjquum"
}

If you'd like to replace tokens within redactedContent, you can use the below regular expression:

redactedText.replace(/tkn_[A-Za-z0-9]+/g, "[REDACTED]");

Any questions?

If you have any questions or want to learn how Strac can help you redacting voice call recordings, please book a meeting with us.