Managing compliance is a resource-intensive but essential part of security for organizations. For contact centers, PCI compliance is crucial for protecting payment card data and ensuring operations meet industry standards. However, some requirements, particularly authentication controls under PCI Requirement 8, can disrupt workflows and create friction for agents who end up having to frequently reauthenticate.
Continuous MFA eliminates these challenges by providing invisible, behind-the-scenes authentication that is PCI compliant and helps maintain operational efficiency. Let’s explore how it helps contact centers meet PCI Requirement 8 without unnecessary interruptions.
What is PCI Requirement 8?
PCI-DSS Requirement 8 mandates that organizations implement strong authentication measures to control access to cardholder data. It focuses on verifying the identities of users accessing systems, preventing unauthorized access, and ensuring secure authentication processes.
Key requirements include:
- Stronger Authentication Measures: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) will become mandatory for all remote access and sensitive environments.
- Continuous Authentication Monitoring: Passwords and one-time MFA are no longer enough—dynamic, real-time behavioral monitoring will be essential to detect unauthorized access.
- Agent and Workforce Controls: Policies must address emerging risks, like password sharing, weak credentials, and social engineering.
For contact centers, maintaining compliance with these authentication requirements can introduce friction, impacting agent efficiency and increasing IT support burdens.
The Challenges of Traditional Authentication in Contact Centers
Most MFA solutions, such as phone-based authentication apps, hard tokens, and on-device OTPs introduce operational inefficiencies for contact centers:
- Interruptions & Productivity Loss – Agents must manually authenticate multiple times per shift, disrupting workflow.
- Device Restrictions – Many contact centers enforce a clean desk policy, prohibiting personal devices, making phone-based MFA solutions unusable.
- Password & Token Sharing Risks – Shared workstations and password reuse introduce security gaps that traditional MFA struggles to address.
- Compliance Complexity – Enforcing MFA across large-scale contact center environments requires ongoing administrative effort.
How Continuous MFA Simplifies PCI Requirement 8 Compliance
Continuous MFA powered by behavioral authentication provides real-time, behavior-based agent verification that eliminates these challenges. It ensures compliance with PCI Requirement 8 while enhancing security and streamlining operations.
Here’s how it works:
- Frictionless Authentication – Continuous MFA verifies users based on their behavior, such as typing patterns and mouse movements, eliminating the need for manual authentication steps.
- No Extra Devices Required – Unlike phone-based MFA or hard tokens, Twosense is entirely software, making it compatible with clean desk policies and enabling floating desks.
- Continuous Monitoring & Session Security – Twosense continuously validates user identities throughout the session, automatically detecting unauthorized access attempts and locking out suspicious activity. This also meets the request for accounts to be dynamically analyzed in real-time.
- Stronger Protection Against Insider Threats – Behavioral authentication is phishing-resistant, preventing unauthorized access even in cases of credential theft or social engineering attacks.
Achieve Seamless PCI Compliance with Twosense
PCI Requirement 8 compliance doesn’t have to come at the cost of efficiency. Continuous MFA automates authentication, ensuring secure, seamless access control without disrupting workflows. By eliminating manual MFA challenges, it enhances security, reduces IT overhead, and enables contact centers to meet PCI requirements effortlessly.
