If your organization is dealing with spam calls it can be difficult to maximize productivity and maintain communication with customers and prospects. These spam calls present themselves through Caller ID spoofing and robocalls that are made to the phones in your network and seem like they’re coming from a reliable source.
However, if your employees answer and unintentionally provide information about customers, employees, or the organization itself, it can lead to cyberattacks.
No organization can afford to be a victim of caller ID spoofing, robocalls, or cyberattacks. For this reason, implementing a STIR/SHAKEN framework into your phone solution can help eliminate these issues and avoid spam calls and cyberattacks.
Coeo understands how important a reliable and secure phone solution is and has delivered thousands of phone solutions to organizations with reliable voice security and performance.
By the end of this article, you will understand what STIR/SHAKEN is, the key features of the framework, and whether it is a good solution for your organization.
What is STIR/SHAKEN?
STIR/SHAKEN stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN).
STIR uses digital signatures embedded in the SIP messages used to route calls and carry calling information while providing a digital signature with the proper calling party credentials.
This enables you to understand where these calls are coming from to combat caller ID spoofing. Caller ID spoofing uses your phone number to makes calls showing a number similar to your phone number to increase the probability of you picking up the call.
However, using the STIR/SHAKEN protocols enable you to see where the calls are actually coming from.
SHAKEN is the applied framework for deploying STIR technology and protocols. The implementation of this technology helps service providers authenticate and verify calls made on an IP network.
STIR/SHAKEN is a framework of network protocols used by the provider to combat caller ID spoofing and robocalls by authenticating the original caller’s ID.
These protocols help reduce the chances of fraudulent or spam calls which can help maintain trust in your organization’s phone solution.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about STIR/SHAKEN protocols or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
Key features of STIR/SHAKEN
STIR/SHAKEN helps organizations improve their communication with customers as well as improve trust in their phone solution by avoiding fraudulent or spam calls.
However, it is also important to understand the key components and features of STIR/SHAKEN to learn how it works. This will help determine if it is the right solution for your organization. Some of the key features and components of STIR/SHAKEN include:
Call authentication
The first STIR/SHAKEN feature is call authentication which enables the originating phone carrier to authenticate each call and verify that the calls are being made from a legitimate source.
Each carrier generates a unique digital signature and attaches it to the call data. When a call is made, STIR/SHAKEN has visibility into the unique signature and verifies whether the call is being made from a legitimate carrier even if the caller ID shows an area code familiar to the caller.
The call authentication feature ensures that the call is legitimate and the number they are calling from is not spoofed or on a spam call list. This ensures that your organization has visibility into every number that makes calls to your users.
Call transmission and verification
STIR/SHAKEN uses call transmission to send the call information and signature through the network to the receiving phone carrier. This information is then used to verify the caller’s identity and authenticity.
STIR/SHAKEN uses call verification to check the carrier signature to ensure that the caller ID has not been tampered with and is still a legitimate number.
Validation outcome
Once STIR/SHAKEN has performed call authentication, transmission, and verification, the validation is provided.
If the verification is successful the call is marked as authentic and if it fails, it is flagged as potential spam or fraudulent and alerts users that it is spam.
When an unknown number shows up as “Scam Likely” on your phone number, it is probably because it has been flagged as potential spam by STIR/SHAKEN.
Is STIR/SHAKEN the right solution for your organization?
Now you understand what STIR/SHAKEN is and its key features. However, it is also important to understand whether it is the right solution for your organization.
STIR/SHAKEN is a good choice for your organization if your employees frequently receive spam or fraudulent calls to their phones. This can make it difficult to communicate when their phones are being dialed by spam calls.
If your employees have lost confidence in answering legitimate calls from phones of their co-workers, the STIR/SHAKEN framework may be a good solution to help employees’ trust their phones. This enables employees to better focus on communicating with customers and prospects.
The FCC has also mandated that STIR/SHAKEN be implemented into US phone solutions by carriers. If your organization is looking to maintain phone compliance, STIR/SHAKEN is an effective choice.
Determining whether STIR/SHAKEN is a good choice for your organization
Now you understand what STIR/SHAKEN is, its key features, and whether it is a good choice for your organization. This will help you determine whether STIR/SHAKEN is a solution your organization should invest in to help avoid spam and fraudulent calls.
Spam and fraudulent calls can be overwhelming and decrease productivity and hinder communication with customers.
STIR/SHAKEN can help avoid these issues and improve your phone solution. Additionally, STIR/SHAKEN can help maintain compliance with your phone solutions.
Coeo understands how important STIR/SHAKEN is and has delivered thousands of phone solutions that offer STIR/SHAKEN protocols to help avoid spam or fraudulent calls and maintain compliance.
We want you to understand what STIR/SHAKEN is and how important it is to implement it into your phone solution so you can avoid spam and fraudulent calls.
If you would like to speak with our team to learn more about STIR/SHAKEN protocols or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
Now that you understand what STIR/SHAKEN is and its key features, check out our Microsoft Teams Operator Connect solutions page to learn how STIR/SHAKEN can be provided through our Operator Connect solution:
