U.S. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Canada's CRTC Chairman Ian Scott have completed end-to-end international authenticated calls using the STIR/SHAKEN protocol using Xfinity Voice and Telus wireless phone services.
STIR (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) technology is intended to enable voice service providers to "sign" and "verify" caller ID information to preventing bad actors from manipulating or "spoofing" caller ID information in an effort to deceive and defraud consumers.
The protocol has been deployed for domestic calls. Comcast, for instance, announced in March of 2019 that it had completed the first exchange of authenticated calls under the STIR/SHAKEN protocol with AT&T, and announced in April that it had begun exchanging authenticated calls with T-Mobile.
However, a large number of fraudulent spoofed robocalls originate from overseas, prompting a need for cross-border coordination on caller ID authentication.
"Comcast has been at the forefront of these efforts from day one and will continue working diligently to eradicate the nuisance calls that have plagued consumers for years," said Tony Werner, president of Technology, Product and Xperience, Comcast. "We applaud Chairman Pai and the FCC's leadership to protect consumers by working with voice providers like Xfinity to pave the way for broader implementation of STIR/SHAKEN and other robocall mitigation techniques."
