TCN, a global provider of a comprehensive cloud-based call centre platform for enterprises, contact centres, BPOs and collection agencies, has penned some guidance to better help business leaders understand STAR/SHAKEN, the new Secure Telephone Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKEN (STIR/SHAKEN) framework, which takes effect on June 30, 2021.
It also addresses the additional FCC rules of the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act for businesses that are unable to implement STIR/SHAKEN right away.
McKay Bird, chief marketing officer at TCN, said: “Every day, Americans receive millions of fraudulent, unwanted phone calls, including calls with malicious intent that ‘spoof’ or falsify caller ID information.
“These spoofed calls are not just an annoyance — they represent billions of dollars lost to fraud, damage consumer confidence in voice networks and threaten public safety.
“STIR/SHAKEN is an important and needed step toward restoring the trust of Americans in their voice networks and giving them a greater degree of confidence that the caller ID information they receive on their phone is accurate.”
STIR/SHAKEN was introduced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a framework for preventing fraudulent and unwanted calls to consumers. It is an industry-standard caller ID authentication technology that allows voice service providers to verify that a call is in fact from the number displayed on Caller ID.
STIR/SHAKEN assigns a certificate of authenticity to each call and digitally validates the handoff of calls carried over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The FCC expects that widespread implementation of STIR/SHAKEN will reduce illegal spoofing, allow law enforcement to identify bad actors more easily and help service providers identify calls with illegally spoofed caller ID information before those calls reach their customers. The FCC requires service providers to adopt and deploy a STIR/SHAKEN solution by June 30, 2021.
Bird added: “STIR/SHAKEN is about validating the caller’s identity between the caller and callee, the originating/terminating carriers and all the touchpoints in between.
“For contact centres, call centres and BPOs, STIR/SHAKEN is an important tool for building trust that can further protect your organisation from the possibility of being misidentified when contacting customers. It also allows voice service providers to provide helpful information to their customers about which calls to answer.”
TCN has already implemented STIR/SHAKEN protocols with carriers. Its clients have the opportunity to take advantage of TCN’s full attestation protocols that can help verify business phone numbers while reducing compliance risk. For more information, go to: https://www.tcn.com/understanding-stir-shaken/.
