Pause and Resume: Impact on Call Center Security

What Is Pause and Resume in Call Centers?

“Pause and Resume” (aka Stop/Start) allows agents to temporarily halt call recording during the customer sharing of sensitive payment card data, then resume afterward. Intended to help meet PCI DSS standards, it focuses on the recordings but ignores broader risks.

Why Data Security Matters During Payment Capture

Protecting cardholder data isn't just a best practice—it’s a regulatory necessity. Exposure during payment interactions can result in severe fines, reputational damage, and lost customer trust. Even brief lapses in payment security can lead to costly breaches

Limitations of Pause and Resume for Security

Gaps in protection, manual errors, audit issues

• Manual Errors: Agents may forget to pause or resume, risking unintentional data capture.
• Exposure to Agents: Even with recording paused, agents may hear or screen sensitive data—massively increasing fraud risk.
• Audit and Compliance Gaps: Many regulations require complete call recording. Skipping segments jeopardizes quality controls, dispute resolution, and training. Also, manually italicized pause/resume handles only a tiny subset of PCI DSS controls, forcing reliance on complex SAQ-D audits.

Exploring Alternatives for Call Center Compliance

Rather than relying on outdated stop/start methods, consider secure voice capture technologies, like DTMF masking, that let users enter payment info via phone keypad. This captures input directly to secure servers—completely bypassing agent access or recordings.

How Sycurio Improves Call Center Data Security

Sycurio’s patented solution employs DTMF masking to automatically securely collect payment data via keypad. The tones are screened from both the agent and call recording systems and routed straight to the payment processor. This approach:

• Describes intentional removal of agent and recording scope, minimizing CDE footprint
• Eliminates manual steps and human errors
• Supports seamless customer experience—no pause–resume interruptions
• Lowers audit complexity, slashing PCI scope and reducing remediation burdens

Conclusion

While pause and resume data security may seem appealing, it’s a partial and error-prone fix. Robust, automated alternatives like DTMF masking—provide end-to-end protection, maintain compliance, and optimize both security and user experience.

FAQs:

What is pause and resume in call centers?

A system where agents pause call recording while customers read payment details, then resume recording afterward, aiming to prevent retention of sensitive data.

Why is pause and resume not enough for PCI compliance?

It only excludes recordings but leaves agents, networks, desktops, and telephony systems in scope, introduces errors, and fails to cover most PCI DSS controls.

What are the risks of relying on manual call recording pauses?

High risk of human error, added fraud through agent exposure, incomplete call logs, and regulatory conflicts due to gaps in recording.

What alternatives to pause and resume exist for securing customer data?

Technologies like DTMF masking allow customers to enter card data securely via phone keypad, removing sensitive data from agents, desktops, recordings, and networks entirely.

How does Sycurio secure payment data during calls?

Using DTMF masking, customer input is captured in real time and sent directly to payment processors—agents and systems never see or hear sensitive data, reducing PCI scope and automating compliance.