Data security should be a top priority for every business and professional. Ensuring that sensitive data, including personal data, stays secure is critical. Transcriptions are one area of focus currently in the realm of cybersecurity. From notes taken during internal client meetings to transcriptions of global town halls where companies share performance statistics to admissible transcriptions of legal proceedings, professionals want peace of mind that their data is secure.
Unfortunately, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100 percent secure. However, there are significant differences in how professionals transcribe audio recordings. The tools and services involved in the process will help determine whether each recording qualifies as a secure transcription. One of the best ways to protect your company from data breaches is to select your vendors and partners. Working with a professional, secure transcript service is one way to prevent your data from falling into the wrong hands.
Cybersecurity is making headlines
Security breaches and ransomware attacks have been making headlines. One recent breach impacted US pharmaceutical giant ExecuPharm. That incident led to the release of individuals’ Social Security numbers, financial information, driver’s licenses, passport numbers and other sensitive data.
Technology and consulting company Cognizant became a target of a cyberattack leading to service disruptions for many clients. Some ransom groups have even gained notoriety, including Maze, DoppelPaymer and Sodinokibi. Rather than combatting petty criminals, today’s companies are facing organized, sophisticated cyber attackers that know how to exploit any weaknesses.
Despite these challenges, companies and their customers need to feel secure. Luckily, it’s possible to mitigate the risks of these attacks by implementing proper disaster recovery, data security and prevention plans.
One often overlooked aspect of data security is the potential exposure third-party vendors create. Regarding data security, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. For this reason, your company must vet its vendors and business partners. If a company has access to your data, you should know what steps they take to prevent a data breach.
Transcripts support many industries
Companies transcribe important information. Oftentimes, the information that matters most is also sensitive or even confidential. As a result, transcriptions frequently contain particularly sensitive and confidential data. For example, when it comes to legal proceedings, rules often require verbatim transcripts. Those transcripts may hold sensitive legal or even medical information that needs to stay confidential.
Government, media and corporate organizations are also relying on transcripts of meetings, interviews and more. In each of these cases, transcripts are extremely useful, if not mandatory, for record-keeping. However, not all transcription methods yield the same results- or offer the same security. Selecting secure transcription services or solutions will help preserve important information and protect against breaches.
Are transcription services secure?
While many transcription providers exist in the market, some specialize in different areas or cater to specific use cases. If you need secure audio transcription, you should be looking for a partner used to working with sensitive information. For example, Verbit’s engineers and programmers created secure transcription software to cater specifically to legal, media and higher-education industries. As a result, Verbit has always considered security a top priority.
One method you can use to determine whether your transcription partner takes security seriously is to look at their SOC2 reports. These records illustrate a vendor’s security steps and commitments so that you can feel confident that your information is in good hands.
How Verbit offers transcription security
Verbit institutes key processes to keep customers’ personal data and transcription jobs secure. Those security measures help to prevent the loss of or unauthorized access to personal and professional data.
Verbit limits access to customers’ personal data to only those professionals who need that information to perform client services. Our policy includes specific instructions that limit the ways that individuals handle and process customer data. Additionally, anyone with access to that information must execute a confidentiality agreement.
Verbit has dedicated procedures for handling personal data breaches and threats. Our team also maintains constant communication capabilities to notify consumers immediately in case of a suspected or potential breach. We also employ processes that ensure seamless and secure integrations with leading video and audio capture platforms. Our sophisticated technology works to protect file transfers to and from our platform.
One example of Verbit’s transcription security strategies includes providing each transcriptionist and editor with a different account with very strong credentials while using MFA to prevent account breaches. File storage is also a critical aspect of secure audio transcription. Transcriptions are only accessible to authorized personnel, and all employees and partners take an oath of confidentiality. Additionally, Verbit audits each access, including those by transcriptionists and supervisors.
Verbit takes steps to encrypt the data and saves it with rigorous restrictions to adhere to regulatory constraints like GDPR and strict US state laws like California’s. Here is a more in-depth breakdown of Verbit’s transcription security.
Verbit’s data and transcription security measures
Infrastructure Security
- End-to-End Network Isolation
- External & Internal enforcement points
- Server Hardening
- Denial of Service (DOS) Protection
- Segregation between Office and Production Networks
- Penetration Tests
Application Security
- Access Control
- Data Encryption
- Vulnerabilities Management
- Segregation of Customer Data
Operational Security
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Password Policy
- Recertification of Access Permissions:
- Configuration and Patch Management
- Security Incident Response
Verbit also updates and changes security measures regularly to ensure everything is up to date. In addition, our customer success team is available 24/7 to act quickly if, for any reason, a customer believes their interactions are no longer secure.
Transcription solutions that meet your needs
Protecting data is vital, but it won’t matter unless secure transcription services also offer high-quality, accurate results. In fact, in academic settings, educators cannot use transcripts unless they meet strict 99% accuracy standards. In the education setting, these requirements protect students with disabilities by offering a more equitable experience. For instance, inaccurate lecture transcripts prevent students from having equal access to course materials and information. Anything that falls short may even violate laws like the ADA.
In workplaces as well, if meeting transcripts are riddled with errors, they become useless for people with disabilities who may rely on them. For instance, people who are Deaf or hard of hearing often require transcripts or captions to participate in conference calls, webinars and other work events. Employers offering inferior access in this setting can also run afoul of the ADA.
Similar standards hold true for media, where interview transcripts or news broadcasts must meet FCC guidelines. Additionally, in the case of medical transcriptions, poor results can lead to inaccurate records that could inhibit patient treatment.
Verbit works with demanding industries to provide high-level transcription services. Our sophisticated Artificial Intelligence-based tools recognize the key terminologies and templates that these industries use. However, we add a layer of human editing to provide accuracy levels that meet necessary ADA and FCC guidelines. The dual process helps Verbit offer excellent accuracy with turnaround times as short as four hours.
Interactive transcripts save time
Today’s transcripts also serve as interactive tools. These transcripts allow for greater collaboration among professionals and students and offer features such as note-taking, glossaries, highlighting of key information and more.
Verbit’s searchable transcripts promote collaboration and save time. For example, if your company records a long meeting and you need to find one section, you can quickly jump to that part by searching for a relevant term. In many cases, this feature helps employees, researchers and others save significant time.
Transcripts are a necessary and useful tool. However, it’s important that you’re able to use this solution with confidence. Partnering with a secure transcription service will help you improve accessibility and efficiency while protecting your data.
Verbit is a proud partner for corporations worldwide. Contact us to learn more about how our secure, user-friendly transcription solutions can support your business or organization.