There is a new technology for phone number verification that was implemented in 2021. Although it is commonly referred to as "verified voice" the official name is STIR/SHAKEN. This protocol will help prevent legitimate businesses from having their phone numbers marked as potential spam or scam-likely.
There is a major problem with illegal robocalls in the United States. One of the biggest issues is "spoofed" Caller ID, where a scammer fakes the information - displaying someone else's phone number - to avoid repercussions and penalties. It's basically like the identity theft of a phone number. The person who actually controls the number that is used on the Caller ID often gets unfairly marked as spam, or receives returned phone calls from angry individuals. STIR/SHAKEN combats the issue of spoofed phone numbers, and verifies that the number displayed on the recipient's caller ID is the number being used.
What does STIR/SHAKEN mean?
The term STIR/SHAKEN is an acronym that stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited and Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs.
What does STIR/SHAKEN do?
This security protocol verifies that the Caller ID displayed is, in fact, the number that is originating the phone call. When the Caller ID cannot be verified, the receiving carrier will either mark the call as "Scam Likely" or not complete the call at all.
How does STIR/SHAKEN work?
Every phone number is given a certificate of authenticity. When a phone call is received by a carrier, it will instantly double check that the Caller ID information matches the information on the certificate.
How will STIR/SHAKEN help my business?
There are two main benefits of STIR/SHAKEN.
The first is decreasing the chances of your phone number being marked as spam. Caller ID verification is one of the known variable in the spam-likely algorithms that carriers use.
The second is that it will be a lot harder for a scammer to use your phone numbers in Caller ID, so there will be fewer instances of phone number identity theft.
When smrtPhone implements STIR/SHAKEN?
STIR/SHAKEN is automatically implemented for all smrtPhone customers who verify their business identity through the smrtPhone Trust Center.
Once your business is approved in the Trust Center, your smrtPhone numbers will be automatically enrolled in STIR/SHAKEN, with an estimated 48 hours for full completion.
What if I don't Have STIR / SHAKEN?
If I don't get verified and use STIR/SHAKEN what can I do to protect my phone numbers?
Our best advice at this time is to register your phone numbers with third-party white-listing services, like Call Transparency. Carriers such as T-Mobile reference these databases to help sort who is legitimate. However, we do not know if these databases may become obsolete as STIR/SHAKEN becomes the industry standard.
