Last week was the SIP Forum’s 2021 STIR/SHAKEN Virtual Summit and both our colleagues from SOMOS and our CEO, Eli Katz (in his role as founder and chairman of the UK Comms Council) took part. SOMOS ha an active role in the US implementation of STIR/SHAKEN and Eli gave an international perspective to the latest US standard – and, along with the rest of the panel, discussed what could be happening in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
After many years of both US telecoms industry and FCC activities, STIR/SHAKEN became a regulatory requirement in the US in June and is a suite of protocols and procedures intended to combat caller ID spoofing on IP networks, helping to reduce spam robocalls and improve voice security.
From a UK perspective, With an OFCOM consultation slated for later this year and NICC Public consultations available already we’re keeping a close eye on what could be introduced in the UK and what this will mean for carriers.
Whilst it’s looking quite possible that the UK will introduce STIR/SHAKEN to combat the issue of caller ID spoofing. However, the problem we have in the UK is the lack of a central number portability database for carriers to access to check numbering information. How can carriers identify which calls are from legitimate sources and which aren’t?
You can watch the full discussion here.
STIR/SHAKEN only deals with voice calls and not SMS. At XConnect we’re committed to working across the industry to fight fraud and build Trusted Identity (Caller ID and CLI) across the whole ecosystem and that’s why schemes such as the MEF’s SMS SenderID Protection are so important – it’s currently on trial in the UK with hopes to expand further.
Watch this space, it’s certain to be interesting times in the creation of Trust in Caller ID and fight against fraud across both the voice and messaging the industry.