For 2021, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated stricter authentication processes on outbound calls from voice service providers.

These protocols are known as Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN), or STIR/SHAKEN.

In simple terms, the US government is requiring voice providers in our industry to follow a standardized process to ensure that caller ID information can be trusted by consumers.

STIR/SHAKEN registration is now part of the Spam Prevention & Business Registration.

The rise of internet-based communications has made it extremely difficult for carriers and regulators to weed out bad actors within the telephony ecosystem of North America, resulting in an explosion in robocalls and spam calls.

Fraudulent calling comprises a significant portion of voice traffic, mainly through caller ID spoofing practices, thus undermining the efficacy of legitimate calling and power dialing for valid business purposes.

STIR/SHAKEN is being adopted in an effort to combat unsolicited robocalling and illegal forms of caller ID spoofing.

Service providers are required to implement technical protocols on outbound voice traffic designed to manage digitally “signed” calls more favorably than unauthenticated robocalls or spoofers.

The degree to which a call is treated favorably is determined by the originating caller's level of “attestation” under the STIR/SHAKEN framework.

In other words, the more transparent callers and service providers are about their relationship to the number that appears on their Caller ID; the less likely their calls will be treated as fraudulent.

In due course, we expect to see a greater level of answer rates for Aloware customers as the mechanisms of STIR/SHAKEN increase consumer confidence in the voice calls that they are receiving. The details of this program are both carrier and device-specific, but here are some of the benefits to come:

STIR/SHAKEN has a hard deadline for implementation from the FCC of June 30th, 2021.
Aloware will be fully compliant under STIR/SHAKEN.

The registration process for STIR/SHAKEN is now open. To make things easier, Aloware will be managing as much of the process on your behalf as possible.

Please follow this link to Register your company and brand.

https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication

Twilio SHAKEN/STIR | Commit to Trusted Calling

What is SHAKEN/STIR, Call analytics, and the role they play in the fight against unlawful robocall

The Aloware compliance section will display the status of your business registration as: