How to protect customer data from employees and unauthorized logins

If you don't protect customer data from employees, the story repeats itself: a manager quits, and a month later their former clients are buying from a competitor. The manager still had the password: they signed in from home and exported the client base you had been paying for with ads for years. The owner usually finds out when sales have already dropped. Another pain point is discipline: the head of sales doesn't know which managers were on the line and who switched off taking calls in the middle of the day.

Three things protect against a client base leak: sign-in only from the office, a login log and hidden client numbers — they are not visible in the CRM, in exports or in call details. Account data is stored in line with personal data protection laws.

Two pages of the “Users” section cover these risks. “Login history” lets people into the account only from allowed IP addresses and keeps a log of all login attempts. An IP address is the address a computer uses to go online, for example the office one. “Activity history” shows when each employee was switched on and off for taking calls, and who did it.

Watch the two-minute video, and below you'll find the step-by-step setup.

Why businesses need customer data protection

• Business owner: sign-in only from the office and other allowed addresses. A fired employee or a stranger with someone else's password can't sign in or export the client base.
• Head of sales: the log shows wrong passwords, attempts from unknown addresses and unfamiliar devices. A suspicious sign-in is visible at once, and the password can be changed before a leak.
• Sales team with high turnover: client numbers are hidden in the CRM, exports, call details and notifications. A manager calls clients but can't copy down or export their numbers.
• Head of a call center or sales team: you see who took calls and for how long, and who switched off during the day. Discipline on the line without manual checks.
• Resolving disputes: every record has an author and an IP. It's clear right away whether a manager switched off on their own or another user switched them off.

How account protection works

Both pages are in the “Settings” → “Users” menu:

• “Login history” — the “Account login log” page with the “Login settings” and “Login log” blocks. Only the main account can open it.
• “Activity history” — the “Employee activity history” page with a list of times employees were switched on and off for taking calls. The main account and users with the “Access to user activity” right can open it.

The IP check applies to every sign-in to the account — both the main account and users.

How to allow CRM sign-in only from the office IP

1. 1
   Find your IP

   In the “Login log”, find the row of your latest sign-in from the office and look at the “IP” column.
2. 2
   Add the address

   In the “Login settings” block, click “Add address” and enter this IP. Add the other addresses you need too, for example your home one.
3. 3
   Save the list

   With the “Save” button in the bar at the bottom of the screen. The message “IP addresses saved” appears.
4. 4
   Turn on the check

   With the “Sign in only from the addresses in the list” toggle. It's saved right away.
5. 5
   Check the log

   Attempts from other addresses appear there marked “IP check failed”.

Login log: how to see who logged into the CRM

The login log is a list of all attempts to sign in to the account. Columns: “User”, “Result”, “Device” (system and browser), “IP”, “Date”. There are three kinds of results: “Signed in”, “Wrong password” and “IP check failed”. Entries go from newest to oldest, and earlier ones load as you scroll. The server takes a few seconds to build the log — that's normal.

Noticed an unknown IP or a series of wrong passwords? Change the user's password in their card. Or click “Send access by email” there: the dashboard creates a new password and sends it to the employee, and the old one stops working.

Employee activity history

Columns: “Employee”, “Status” (“Switched on” or “Switched off”), “IP”, “Status set”, “Set by”, “Time in status”. It's the same switch as the “In calls” toggle in the user list. How inbound calls are split among employees is covered in the article distributing inbound calls among managers.

Above the list are filters: “Search” by name, login or IP, “Employee” and “Status”. They work on the records already loaded. If there are no matches, the page loads earlier ones on its own. Example: choose an employee and the “Switched off” status — the “Set by” column shows who took them off the line. The server doesn't report the total number of records: above the list, you see how many have already loaded.

You can check the current state without this page too. In the “Users” list, hover over the “In calls” toggle — the tooltip shows, for example, “on 3d”.

Hidden client phone numbers

Even with access to the CRM, a manager can't take the numbers with them if they're hidden. In “Users”, open the employee's card → “Profile” → “General settings”, turn on “Hide the client number from the user” and click “Save”. The number is hidden everywhere: in the CRM, in exports, in call details and in notifications. The employee sees only the last four digits but can still call clients, and exporting the base won't give them a single number. The setting doesn't apply to the main account. The employee's other rights are covered in the article employee access rights in the CRM.

When a manager leaves, find their open tasks with the “Assignee” filter and hand them over to another employee — more in the article CRM task management.

Can't sign in to the CRM: password and sign-in errors

The “Incorrect login or password.” error on the sign-in page means one of the two was entered wrong. An employee's login is shown in their card in “Users”; enter it in full.

If you forgot your password, click “Forgot Password?” under the sign-in form and enter your login or email in the “Login” field. An email with a link goes to the address in the profile. The link is valid for an hour and works once. Open it and click “Set a new password”: the account creates a secure password and sends it in the next email. No email — check the “Spam” folder.

What the recovery errors mean:

• “We couldn't find an account with this login” — the login is misspelled.
• “There's no email in the profile” — there's nowhere to send the link. An employee's email is added in their card, and support helps the main account.
• “Too many attempts. Please try again in an hour” — there were too many requests; wait an hour.
• “This link has expired or has already been used” — request a new link.

If the whole team can't sign in, check whether sign-in only from allowed IP addresses is turned on. The login log marks attempts from other addresses with “IP check failed”. An employee's password is changed in their card: the “Password” field or the “Send access by email” button. The main account or a user with the “Can create/edit other users” right can do this. After access rights change, the employee has to sign in again — the account warns about this with the “Saved. The user will need to log in again.” toast.

Read also: CRM user permissions: how to add an employee and set access rights, CRM task management and calendar: never forget to call a client back, Automatic call distribution between managers: queue and bot