Stir/Shaken Protocol to Fight Robocalls

UNDERSTANDING STIR/SHAKEN

Introduction

Robocalls are rapidly overwhelming the telephone world. According to a study analyzing over 50 million calls, the number of robocalls is dramatically increasing, from 3.7% of total calls in 2017 to 29.2% in 2018. And it has reached 44.6% by early 2019. The U.S. has already been hit with 33 billion robocalls this year (2020).

The industry-led solutions STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs) have been officially endorsed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fight spoofed phone numbers or robocalls.

Criminals and unscrupulous robocallers often alter or spoof the calling number of their outbound telephone calls in order to deceive the called party. This deception can be as simple as changing the calling number so it appears that a neighbor is calling or a call is being originated from a familiar number. This deception increases the chance that the called party will answer a robocall. In other cases, the deception may be more malicious, such as a fraudster impersonating an IRS agent in order to steal a tax refund. This practice of altering the calling number of a telephone call is known as spoofing.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been encouraging the telecommunications industry to develop a solution to stop robocalls and spoofed calling numbers since 2014. The industry’s response has been to develop a new technology standard called STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) which defines how telephone service providers should implement the STIR technology to ensure calling numbers are not spoofed.

How STIR/SHAKEN works

STIR/SHAKEN uses digital certificates, based on common public key cryptography techniques, to ensure the calling number of a telephone call is secure. In simple terms, each telephone service provider obtains their digital certificate from a certificate authority who is trusted by other telephone service providers. The certificate technology enables the called party to verify that the calling number is accurate and has not been spoofed. VORADIAN complies with the requirements of the STIR/SHAKEN protocols and our network is fully integrated with all participating telecommunications providers globally.