SHAKEN/STIR is a new system used in the United States to verify the owner of incoming phone calls, and ensure they are authorized to use the numbers they are calling from. It was put in place by the FCC to help combat robocall spam and provide users with a higher level of trust that they're receiving a legitmate call.
What is SHAKEN/STIR and how does it work?
SHAKEN/STIR stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs and Secure Telephone Identity Revisited. It is required by law to be used by all phone carriers in the United States. The outgoing provider will attach a signed certificate stating their trust or attestation level for the call.
Why was SHAKEN/STIR implemented?
SHAKEN/STIR was impleneted to help reduce robocall spam and provide greater trust to consumers that an incoming call they're receiving is legitimate. Typical robocallers "spoof" their caller ID and use phone numbers that don't actually belong to them, making it harder to track down where the calls are coming from and who is responsible for them.
What are the different attestation/trust levels?
SHAKEN/STIR provides three different attestations for outgoing calls, which are named A, B, and C. These attestations are provided based on the information that the phone carrier has about the customer and the number they're dialing from.
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Gateway Attestation (C) - The carrier has authenticated the call as valid (using either IP addresses or username/password information from the SIP trunk), but it does not have information on the customer and cannot prove the number is theirs. This is the lowest level of trust and is more likely to cause numbers to show up as Scam Likely faster.
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Partial Attestation (B) - The carrier has authenticated the call as valid and has information for the customer, but cannot prove the number is theirs. Dial Fusion does not use this attestation for outgoing calls.
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Full Attestation (A) - The carrier has authenticated the call as valid, has information for the customer, and can prove that the number they're calling from is theirs. Customers who have registered their business information with Dial Fusion will receive this attestation on their calls. This is the highest level of trust.
Does SHAKEN/STIR prevent my numbers from showing up as Scam Likely?
There are many factors that go into determining whether or not a number shows up as Scam Likely, such as how many calls per second/hour are being made from that number, how many numbers you call from per area code, and reports/complaints from customers you call. SHAKEN/STIR does not prevent numbers from showing Scam Likely in its entirety, but we have found that registered numbers tend to take much longer to go bad as opposed to unregistered numbers.
Is there a cost associated with SHAKEN/STIR?
No, SHAKEN/STIR attestation is provided as a free service to all Dial Fusion customers who elect to provide business registration information.
Does Dial Fusion verify inbound SHAKEN/STIR on incoming calls?
No, the Dial Fusion system does not verify the SHAKEN/STIR attestation on inbound calls.
How can I check my SHAKEN/STIR attestation?
At this time we are not aware of any free services that allow for checking the SHAKEN/STIR attestaion for your calls. However, if you are a Dial Fusion customer, our carrier provides that information to us and can be passed along to you at your request.