STIR/SHAKEN: The ABCs of attestation and analytics

In less than a year, voice service providers will be required by the FCC to implement STIR/SHAKEN. This involves three types of call attestation: full (A), partial (B), and gateway (C). Full attestation means the provider knows the customer and their right to use the phone number, while partial attestation indicates that the provider knows the customer but not the source of the phone number. Gateway attestation is applied when a service provider has originated the call onto the network but cannot authenticate the call source. Attestation is not the same as call blocking or spam identification, which are features within the terminating service provider's network. Analytics engines and call blocking software may vary in their decision-making parameters and treatment of STIR/SHAKEN information. Bandwidth has deployed STIR/SHAKEN protocols within its network and is actively working to address legitimate use cases that may be misidentified by various call blocking software being deployed by terminating carriers.