A new Zoom phishing scam and Broadvoice data leak are latest examples of cyber risks to UC users amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

SlashNext brought to our attention the new Zoom phishing scam. It is perpetuated by the rise in remote workers due to COVID-19.

In the Zoom phishing scam, bad actors pose as Zoom corporate. They send emails saying all users must verify their email addresses with a button click named “Activate Now.”

Once clicked, the Zoom phishing scam email takes them to a known phishing/fake website. It instructs users to log in with their Zoom credentials. The hacker then has access to your Zoom account, meetings and participant email addresses.

When contacted, Zoom sent us the following statement:

“Zoom users across all services and technology platforms should be cautious with emails, links or files received from unknown senders. Users should take care to only click on authentic links or open attachments to known and trusted service providers. Zoom users should be aware that links to our platform will only ever have a zoom.us or zoom.com domain name. Prior to clicking on a link, they should carefully review the URL, being mindful of lookalike domain names and spelling errors.”

In addition to the Zoom phishing scam, a recent Broadvoice data leak exposed 350 million records. Anyone could view the information with no authentication required for access. Many of the records included personal details and voicemail transcripts of Broadvoice clients’ customers.

The customer records are related to Broadvoice’s b-hive cloud-based communications suite.

The data leak was discovered by Comparitech researchers. It said the data included caller names, phone numbers and locations, among other data. One database included transcriptions of hundreds of thousands of voicemails. Many involved sensitive information such as details about medical prescriptions and financial loans.

The cluster included around 10 collections, the largest of which held more than 275 million records.

Rebecca Rosen is Broadvoice‘s vice president of marketing.

Broadvoice’s Rebecca Rosen

“During a call log database upgrade, the data was stored in an inadvertently unsecured storage service on Sept. 28 until Oct. 2 when it was secured,” she said. “We alerted affected customers on Oct. 15.”

An investigation is ongoing, Rosen said. And there’s no evidence of any unauthorized acquisition of the data except by Comparitech.

It appears that the security researcher sampled a small number of records for the purpose of demonstrating the issue, Rosen said. Those records include contact information for a limited number of customers, as well as a small number of call detail records and voicemail transcriptions.

Broadvoice will notify customers whose data was in the records acquired by the researcher when its investigation is complete, Rosen said. Furthermore, it will provide information about the event.

“Additionally, we are reinforcing our …

… security tools, policies and procedures, fortifying our systems and enhancing our employee training,” she said.

Preventing Contact Center Failure

It’s an especially challenging time for contact centers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online orders are increasing and shipping delays plague consumers everywhere. Contact center agents deal with demanding customers. They also must be knowledgeable about products and services, and adhere to changing compliance regulations.

Companies also monitor and time the length of agents’ calls.

In turn, agents are overworked, resulting in dissatisfaction, disengagement and poor performance.

A business can have the best product or service in the world, but customers will leave if the customer support is poor. Luckily, before every failing relationship there are red flags. Those include poor call quality and declines in productivity. In order to detect possible concerns that the contact center is failing, businesses must watch for the signs.

TetraVX’s Kara Korte

To find out more about contact center failure, we spoke with Kara Korte, director of product management at TetraVX.

Channel Partners: Has the likelihood for contact center failure increased during the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, why?

Kara Korte: With the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies that were not prepared with cloud-based contact center platforms or those who had contact center agents who were not set up to work from home may have suffered from lost productivity or a less satisfactory client service level. But while there was a huge susceptibility for companies to fail, those that were positioned correctly and had the right technology in place had a massive opportunity to stand out and deliver an undisrupted customer experience.

CP: What damage can result from contact center fatigue?

KK: For those industries hit the hardest, like travel and hospitality, the ability to handle the massive increase in customer requests may have gained or lost customers indefinitely.

CP: Are there other red flags besides poor call quality and decline in productivity?

KK: When it comes to stressful situations like the one COVID-19 put us all in, the ability to get service quickly and efficiently can improve the perception a consumer has of a brand indefinitely. Every flight canceled was a hit to not only the airline, but also the person who missed out on the trip of their dreams or time with family. Providing exceptional customer service and supporting customer change requests, cancelations and questions, is one less stress, and can make or break the consumer’s decision to fly with that airline again. This mindset applies to all industries.

CP: What should you do to remedy contact center failure?

KK: First and foremost, identify why the failure happened. What tech? Process? A poorly trained team? Once you understand the source of the failure, you can take the proper steps to prevent it from happening again.

CP: How can you prevent the onset of contact center failure?

KK: Evaluate your contact center tech stack and validate that it provides you the communication channels, flexibility and reliability your company needs. Then make sure your team is properly trained on your systems and processes so that they can respond quickly if a crisis strikes. Additionally, always have a business continuity plan. For organizations without an existing plan, starting by what they did to address COVID-19 is a great start. The next step would be adding what they anticipate being able (or wanting) to do as COVID-19 dynamics change. From there, they can evolve the plan as they are able.

RingCentral Unveils New Text Messaging Service

RingCentral has rolled out a new high-volume SMS, or text messaging service, that allows businesses to send messages and updates to their customers rapidly and reliably.

Using this service, developers can …

… build customized apps using RingCentral’s business communications platform. RingCentral also offers the service via pre-built applications available in the RingCentral App Gallery.

Lisa Del Real is RingCentral‘s vice president of global partner programs. She said the service lets customers send messages to thousands of people at a time.

RingCentral’s Lisa Del Real

“This will benefit partners looking to target customers who are already interested in UCaaS solutions, and also need a service like this to assist them in customer engagement, marketing and sales activities,” she said. “With RingCentral, customers won’t need to go to a different provider for this additional capability.”

Customers can use their business number, an extension, or any other U.S. phone number to send high-volume and commercial SMS messages. This eliminates the need to buy and program a separate number.

Businesses can send one-off messages or batch requests, and up to three messages every second. Furthermore, RingCentral provides access to message status, logs, store and analytics for advanced insights and regulatory compliance.

“High-volume SMS will allow RingCentral and its partners to target customers who are looking to move their communications infrastructure to the cloud, and also want solutions that can enable them to easily reach thousands of customers,” Del Real said.

Health care providers can send out appointment reminders to patients. Furthermore, salespeople can send marketing messages and promotions to multiple customers.

The new high-volume SMS service also enables RingCentral customers to take advantage of SMS for mass marketing purposes, automated messages, notifications, customer polls/surveys, chatbots, two-factor authentication (2FA), one-time passwords (OTP) and other business use cases.

CBTS, Five9 Partner for Cloud Contact Center

Five9 and CBTS have partnered to launch an advanced cloud contact center built on the Five9 platform.

CBTS can now provide an additional solution for customers looking to move to a SaaS-based contact center platform.

Five9’s Andy Dignan

“We are pleased to have CBTS as a partner with their experience in delivering enterprise voice and network,” said Andy Dignan, Five9’s senior vice president of global channel and professional services. “We believe Five9 can enhance the value they already bring to their clients.”

The new solution will give CBTS the ability to offer its clients a third option to its contact center portfolio,

It provides additional capabilities in process automation for operations; CRM and UC integrations; and omnichannel engagement.

“Our partnership with Five9 provides another option to provide our clients an alternative solution that can solve their most critical business challenges,” said Greg Wheeler, CBTS senior vice president of U.S. sales and global programs. “Adding Five9 to our portfolio allows us to integrate into countless on-premises, hybrid, or cloud environments and bring the necessary customizations and integrations to solve even the most complex business objectives.”