Guaranteed Caller® TDM-SHAKEN
The Challenge
American consumers receive over 200,000 unwanted and/or fraudulent calls every minute, many of which use spoofed caller IDs to increase the likelihood that the call recipient will answer. Both the FCC in the USA — through the TRACED Act — and the CRTC in Canada have mandated that service providers implement the STIR/SHAKEN set of standards as a solution to the widespread use of caller ID spoofing in fraudulent calls.
SS7 network elements cannot sign calls per STIR/SHAKEN standards, as they lack the SIP infrastructure to transport the result. Also, the presence of SS7 anywhere on the signaling path of signed calls strips the signed Identity Header. Hence, originating from an SS7 service area or transiting an SS7 interconnect leaves calls “unverified.”
Many smaller service providers operate native SS7 cores and connect “upstream” via SS7/TDM. Moving to SIP isn’t always an option because even if STIR/SHAKEN is implemented within the service area, the result is islands of verification in a sea of unverified calls due to the fact that signed identity headers can’t pass across the upstream interconnect points. Also, migrating to end-to-end SIP connectivity may not be a viable short-term option for some carriers because the network core must be upgraded to SIP, and the nearest SIP interconnect point may be more distant than the current SS7 interconnect points, imposing significant new transit fees.
Still, remaining unverified isn’t an option. Traffic offered upstream from SS7 service areas will quickly become less and less attractive economically, as subscribers everywhere become used to familiar verification symbols. An unverified call will soon become an unanswered call. Businesses presently in these service areas will face economic pressure to move to areas where IP connectivity is available end to end.
The netnumber Global Data Services Solution
Guaranteed Caller® is our family of STIR/SHAKEN solutions, providing proactive and IETF/ATIS-compliant caller ID validation solutions for all common calling scenarios.
Guaranteed Caller® TDM-SHAKEN extends the STIR/SHAKEN trust network into the TDM/SS7 domain by providing the TDM-enabling Call Placement Service (CPS) element. Also included is full support for SS7 physical interfaces, leveraging netnumber ’ 20+ years of experience in the SS7 domain. TDM-SHAKEN is included with Guaranteed Caller® Service Provider. It includes CPS and the optional, in-network Cloud Connect element.
On SS7 origination, Guaranteed Caller® TDM-SHAKEN creates a signed identity header for the call and stores it in an out-of-band, real-time Call Placement Service (CPS). On SS7 termination, it retrieves the signed identity header for the call from the CPS and verifies the signed identity header.
Key Features
- All key features of Guaranteed Caller® Service Provider in addition to the below.
- Provides ATIS STIR/SHAKEN-compliant call signing and call signature validation for both TDM and SIGTRAN SS7/ISUP calls.
- Fully compliant with ATIS 1000096 out-of-band SHAKEN, including STI-CPS support.
Benefits
- In combination with Guaranteed Caller® Service Provider, implements full STIR/SHAKEN coverage across the entire network, eliminating the need for additional and costly robocall mitigation solutions.
- Supports optional incremental usage of STI-CPS for SIP STIR/SHAKEN, protecting call signatures from intermediate SS7 transport that would otherwise delete call signatures.
- Guaranteed Caller® TDM-SHAKEN STI-CPS usage is pre-integrated with netnumber ’ Guaranteed Caller® STI-AS and STI-VS, saving one cloud dip each for call signing and signature validation.