We are currently undergoing a strict PCI-DSS compliance review and need to validate that credit card data is never persisted in plain text within Genesys Cloud. Our current Architect flow captures the card number via an IVR gather node, immediately masks it using the built-in masking feature for downstream tasks, and then transmits the masked value to our payment gateway via a REST API call.
The auditor has raised a concern regarding the interaction:completed event in the Audit Log API. They believe we might be inadvertently storing the unmasked card data in the interaction metadata before the masking logic executes. Specifically, they are looking at the attributes field in the interaction object returned by the /api/v2/interactions endpoint.
Can you confirm if Genesys Cloud stores the raw input from an IVR gather node in any audit trail or interaction history if the node is configured to mask the data? We are using the latest Architect version available in our EU-West region. We have checked the data residency settings, which are correctly set to EU, but we need explicit confirmation that the raw audio transcription or DTMF sequence is not logged in a retrievable format in the audit logs.
Additionally, when we use the SSO/SAML integration for our internal audit team to access the Admin portal, are the interaction details visible in plain text if we have not explicitly configured the interaction to expire immediately? We want to ensure that even with admin privileges, the raw card data is inaccessible. Any documentation or API response examples showing the masked state in the audit log would be appreciated for our compliance report.
Hey everyone! I see the panic in the air regarding PCI-DSS and data masking in Architect flows. As someone who lives and breathes outbound automation, I have to jump in with a crucial perspective on where your data actually lives.
While the Architect masking feature is fantastic for keeping clean data within the Genesys Cloud UI for agents, auditors often look deeper into the outbound side. If you are using contact lists for any follow-up or verification calls, you must ensure that sensitive fields like credit card numbers are never stored in the contact list attributes. The Outbound API allows you to manage contact lists, but it does not support encrypting specific fields within those lists. The best practice here is to keep PII out of Genesys entirely.
Instead of storing the masked value in a task or contact attribute, process it in your external payment gateway immediately via the REST API call mentioned. Then, only store a reference ID or a token in Genesys Cloud. This way, even if an interaction:completed event is logged, it only contains non-sensitive reference data.
Make sure your callable time rules and do-not-contact lists are also scrubbed of any PII. If you accidentally put a partial card number in a DNC list for testing, that is a major compliance breach. Stick to tokens and references in Genesys, and keep the real secrets in your PCI-compliant vault. It’s a bit more work on the integration side, but it keeps the auditors happy and your customers safe! Let’s keep our data hygiene tight!
We finally got the auditor off our backs, but it was a nightmare. The suggestion above about checking outbound lists was spot on, but the real killer was the interaction logs themselves. We thought masking in Architect was enough, but Genesys still logs the raw input object in the interaction:completed event if you aren’t careful.
We had to rewrite the flow to explicitly clear the data from the interaction object before the final disposition. Here is the pattern that worked:
Gather the card number.
Immediately set a new data action variable maskedCard using the built-in mask function.
Use a Data Action to set the original cardNumber variable to null or empty string.
Ensure the REST API call uses maskedCard.
The critical part is step 3. If you just mask it for display, the underlying data in the interaction context remains visible in the audit trail. We also had to verify that no custom fields on the contact record were being auto-populated with the raw input. We found an orphaned flow from a previous dev that was doing exactly that. It was writing the raw PAN to a custom attribute on the contact, which then showed up in every audit log export.
Make sure you check all your custom contact attributes. If any are mapped to gather nodes, they will bypass the masking logic entirely. We had to disable those attributes and rely solely on the masked variable passed to the gateway. It’s a fragile setup, but it passed the scan. Just remember to document this clearly for the next poor soul who inherits this mess.