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Stir/Shaken

Stir(red) or Shaken? Straight Up or With a Twist? A Martini or VoIP Term?

Breanna Fernie

Is it shaken, not stirred, or stirred not shaken?
I just saw the new James Bond movie, and all I can think about now is a crisp ice-cold martini. Some Bond trivia for you:

Why does James Bond say shaken, not stirred?
Bond does it, essentially, because it’s part of the act and mythology of Bond. While James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s biographer Andrew Lycett committed to record that Fleming liked his martinis shaken because he thought that stirring a drink compromised flavor. Fact!

But this blog is not about martini’s- it is about the relatively new term in the VOIP world, “STIR/ SHAKEN.” I get asked many questions about this and thought it would make a fun blog that would help clear up the confusion. Plus, we have an update in our Trunking for our customers with how we handle incoming calls to be STIR/SHAKEN compliant.

STIR/SHAKEN is easy to understand. It is the ultimate technology and regulatory guide to combat fraudulent robocalling and illegal phone number spoofing. Boom! Easy to understand, right? Let me continue…

STIR/SHAKEN: Everything You Need To Know

STIR/SHAKEN is a technology framework designed to prevent and reduce fraudulent robocalls and illegal phone number spoofing. What is spoofing? Spoofing is when the caller has intentionally changed the caller id number displayed to the called recipient…super dodgy!

STIR = Secure Telephony Identity Revisited.
SHAKEN = Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs.

The FCC adopted rules requiring service providers to deploy a STIR/SHAKEN solution this past summer, June 30, 2021.

STIR and SHAKEN, What’s the Difference?

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a group that oversees internet standards, including digital signatures for calls. STIR is a group inside the IETF working with those signatures. The signatures make verifying a call possible, as it contains information about the entity making the call. SHAKEN is the set of standards that STIR must comply with within the service provider’s network.

The importance of STIR/SHAKEN

You may not believe this, but nearly 5 billion automated robocalls are made monthly! There is research to suggest that more than 40% of those calls are thought to be fraud-related. That is a massive amount of deceptive voice traffic!

STIR/SHAKEN is a telecommunication initiative meant to restore legitimacy in the telecom industry. The goal is to prevent consumers and businesses from getting scammed via robocalls and illegal phone number spoofing while ensuring legitimate calls reach the recipient.

What is ClearlyIP doing for STIR/SHAKEN?

ClearlyIP has implemented STIR/SHAKEN in our network; we are currently working with our clients who need help aligning their call practices with the new regulations and procedures. ClearlyIP has provided a Wiki update to allow clients to select which STIR/SHAKEN information they would like to have displayed.

Link to ClearlyIP Wiki: https://kb.clearlyip.com/trunking/Buying-Service.html#Stir/Shaken_Inbound_Call_Handling

ClearlyIP is doing our best to keep our clients and partners up to date on the latest developments, so stay tuned for more developments.

Link to FCC Regulations: https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication