Verification and identity
Duress word
The duress word is a second daily word a member says instead of the real one when someone is forcing them to call. The agent responds exactly as if verification passed, every sensitive tool quietly says it’s unavailable, no sensitive records are shared, and admins get an urgent alert.
The problem
The hardest social engineering isn’t a stranger; it’s a real employee being pressured or coerced into requesting data or a payment. A normal check would pass them. They need a way to say “help” without anyone in the room knowing.
How duress word works
Turn it on
On the Settings page, turn on the duress word and name anyone besides admins who should be alerted.
Members see two words
The Today’s word card shows the real word and a second, duress word. It’s always different from the real word and never sounds like it.
Said instead of the real word
When the agent asks for today’s word, a member under pressure says the duress word.
Nothing looks different
The agent says they’re verified. Behind the scenes, every tool that needs verification answers that it isn’t available right now, and nothing runs.
Help is called
Admins and named contacts get an urgent security notification with a link to the call or conversation.
Every setting
Who can do what
Allowed members
See the duress word under today’s word.
Admins and named contacts
Receive the urgent alert and open the live call or conversation.
What to know
- The duress word is a protected check: no custom exception can ever remove it.
- Through the API it comes back as the DURESS action. Never show it to the user; respond as you would to a success and make sensitive tools quietly unavailable.
- No sensitive records are shared for the rest of that conversation.
More in Verification and identity
FAQ
Duress word: questions
What is a duress word?
A duress word is a code word that signals “I am being forced to do this” while appearing to comply. Autessa shows one to your team every day next to the word of the day.
Will the person pressuring the employee know?
No. The agent responds exactly as if verification passed. Sensitive tools simply say they’re unavailable right now, which looks like an ordinary outage.
Who gets alerted?
Every admin, plus any contacts you name, gets an urgent security notification with a link to the call or conversation.
Turn on duress word.
A member under pressure says the duress word instead of today’s word: the agent responds as if verification passed, every sensitive tool quietly says it is unavailable, and admins are alerted. Start in Monitor and see what it would catch on your real traffic.
Starts in Monitor · nothing changes for your customers until you enforce
100% customizable, code and all
Make Autessa AI Agent Firewall fully your own.
Use it out of the box, then change anything. Ask Autobot, Autessa’s AI builder, for a new field, screen, report, workflow or agent and it builds it into your copy of the app. Or open the code and edit it yourself. Nothing is locked: the app, its data and its code are yours.
Start free and make it yours