Tired of those illusive, fraudulent “spoofed calls” constantly creeping into your work life? We are too and as it turns out we are not alone. The FCC rules now require that all providers within the United States must implement STIR/SHAKEN in the Internet Protocol (IP) portions of their networks as of June 30, 2021. We will discuss STIR/SHAKEN in the following sections, but this is certainly a step in the right direction in finally putting an end to robocalls.

The Solution

Caller ID authentication technology enables users to trust that callers are who they say they are, avoiding the interaction with a robocall almost entirely. Through this new technology consumers and law enforcement can proactively identify the source of illegal robocalls and reduce their frequency. Furthermore, the STIR/SHAKEN simultaneously creates a standard and protocol which in turn allows for the authentication and verification of caller ID information for voice calls over IP networks.

What is STIR/SHAKEN?

STIR/SHAKEN is defined by the FCC as “Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (Shaken) standards” (FCC, 2021). This translates to the use of standard cryptography key infrastructures which allow service providers to authenticate and verify SIP phone call IDs.

The process itself is more complicated than that and can become confusing with the expansive technical language. That is why I included an infographic below to help visualize the process.

Why Is STIR/SHAKEN Important?

As you can see the process of understanding how STIR/SHAKEN works and what it does is confusing and complicated. However, the most important takeaway is that this extra level of security offers benefits to your business in the short and long term. Peace of mind if something we all could appreciate more of these days.

*SEE INFOGRAPHIC BELOW*