Participant testing proving effectiveness of caller authentication standards
WASHINGTON and STERLING, Va. — Sept. 19, 2017 — ATIS and Neustar, Inc., a trusted, neutral provider of real-time information services, today announced, in a major effort to tackle the problem of unwanted calls and caller scams, that testing of caller authentication standards is well underway, with nineteen participants to date having signed on to test in the ATIS Robocalling Testbed. This industry interoperability testing is taking place through a virtualized testbed and software implementation at a facility exclusively hosted by the Neustar Trust Lab. The testbed was launched to support efforts of the Industry Robocall Strike Force called on by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to find solutions to the problem.
The Robocall Strike Force Report released earlier this year highlights the role that testing and standards have as key mitigation tools and efforts. As the FCC continues to address unwanted robocalling with formal inquiries and proposed rules, the testbed activities prove valuable in advancing solutions to protect consumers from the frustration, time lost and the potential damage that can result from unwanted calls and caller scams.
“The companies involved in this testbed are committed to putting the STIR/SHAKEN framework into action,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “By facilitating consistent and fully interoperable implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, the testbed plays a critical role in lessening the negative impact unwanted calls have on consumers’ lives – a key goal of the FCC’s Robocall Strike Force.”
The caller authentication standards developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), together with the SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) framework developed by the joint ATIS/SIP Forum IP-NNI Task Force, give service providers the ability to authenticate, digitally sign and verify calling party numbers. Neustar’s virtualized interoperability testing platform is being used to validate industry standards and the new SHAKEN framework.
“The growing number and variety of participants using the testbed – communications service providers, network manufacturers, solution vendors and government agencies – speaks to the urgency and the industry’s overall commitment to combatting unwanted robocalling and caller fraud,” said Hank Skorny, Senior Vice President, Neustar and member of the ATIS Board of Directors.
To learn more about the ATIS Robocalling Testbed and how to participate, visit the ATIS website or contact Jim McEachern, Senior Technology Consultant, ATIS. Any service provider with an assigned Operating Company Number (OCN), as maintained by the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. (NECA), is eligible and participation is currently free of charge. Other parties, such as equipment manufacturers, and non-ATIS members may participate if they have solutions relevant to the SHAKEN framework available to test.
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About ATIS
As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industry’s most pressing business priorities. ATIS’ 150 member companies are currently working to address 5G, cyber security, IoT, the all-IP transition, network functions virtualization, smart cities, big data analytics, cloud services, device solutions, emergency services, network evolution, quality of service, billing support, operations, and much more. These priorities follow a fast-track development lifecycle – from design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing.
ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit www.atis.org.
About Neustar
Every day, the world generates roughly 2.5 quadrillion bits of data. Neustar isolates certain elements and analyzes, simplifies and edits them to make precise and valuable decisions that drive results. As one of the few companies capable of knowing with certainty who is on the other end of every interaction, we’re trusted by the world’s great brands to make critical decisions some 20 billion times a day. We help marketers send timely and relevant messages to the right people. Because we can authoritatively tell a client exactly who is calling or connecting with them, we make critical real-time responses possible. And the same comprehensive information that enables our clients to direct and manage orders also stops attackers. We know when someone isn’t who they claim to be, which helps stop fraud and denial of service before they’re a problem. Because we’re also an experienced manager of some of the world’s most complex databases, we help clients control their online identity, registering and protecting their domain name, and routing traffic to the correct network address. By linking the most essential information with the people who depend on it, we provide more than 11,000 clients worldwide with decisions-not just data. More information is available at https://www.neustar.biz
