Want to know what SHAKEN/STIR is, why your calls need it, and what the attestation levels A, B, and C mean? This article explains how carriers verify your Caller IDs and what that means for your campaigns. It is for campaign managers and account owners who make calls in CallHub.
Why SHAKEN/STIR matters for your campaigns
In the US, about 50 billion robocalls were made in 2020. Robocalls are calls made by a calling system, using an Auto Dialer, with a pre-recorded voice message. Many of these calls are genuine, but a higher percentage are likely to be fraudulent. Fraudsters spoof the calls with false Caller IDs to get vital information from people. The telephone network lost trust as a result, and most calls went unanswered.
SHAKEN/STIR was introduced in the telecom industry to prevent this. When your organization complies with it, you can expect:
Your Caller IDs are tagged as verified. People see a verified call on their phone display.
More people pick up. Contacts are more likely to answer a verified call.
You build trust in your business. Verification prevents illegal entities from spoofing your calls.
ⓘ SHAKEN/STIR is a compliance requirement introduced by the FCC to reduce unwanted robocalls and caller ID spoofing. Registering your organization lets you use verified Caller IDs to make calls over the network.
A verified call shows on the recipient's display.
What SHAKEN and STIR mean
SHAKEN/STIR combines two standards:
- SHAKEN stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs. The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) designed it to prevent caller ID spoofing.
- STIR stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) designed it to enable end-to-end call authentication.
How SHAKEN/STIR verifies a call
Think of two carriers. Carrier A is the originating carrier, and Carrier B is the end user's network provider. Here is the order a call follows:
- When a call is placed, Carrier A receives the details it needs to verify the to and from phone numbers.
- Carrier A uses a signing service to authenticate the call. Carrier A now has the details of the originating source and its parameters.
- The call travels through the telephony network to Carrier B.
- Carrier B verifies all the details from Carrier A using a certificate authority. The certificate authority is the medium that passes public certificates between the carriers and signs the calls as verified.
- Once Carrier B has the certificates from Carrier A, it marks the caller (the originating phone number) as verified and shows it on the end user's display.
The numbers show the order in which the call is processed.
Attestation levels
Carriers work with attestation levels for SHAKEN/STIR compliance. Attestation levels are flags the carrier sets to show how confident it is in the numbers used as Caller IDs for calls that start on its network. A SHAKEN/STIR registration includes three levels for the numbers your brand uses.
| Level | Name | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| A | Full Attestation | The originating carrier identifies the caller and knows the caller has the right to use the phone number as a Caller ID for outgoing robocalls. |
| B | Partial Attestation | The originating carrier identifies the caller but is unsure whether the caller has the right to use the phone number as the Caller ID for outgoing robocalls. |
| C | Gateway Attestation | The carrier cannot verify the call as Level A or Level B. This level is usually set for calls to international numbers. |
Notes & limits
ⓘ Attestation levels are assigned to your account after the carriers verify the details you submit during registration.
FAQs
What does SHAKEN/STIR do for my calls?
It lets carriers verify that your Caller IDs are genuine, so the Caller IDs used in your campaigns are tagged as verified.
Who sets the attestation level?
The originating carrier sets it, based on how confident it is in the numbers used as Caller IDs.
What does Level B mean?
The carrier identifies you as the caller but is not sure you have the right to use the phone number as your Caller ID.
Which level is usually set for international calls?
Level C, Gateway Attestation, which applies when the carrier cannot verify a call as Level A or Level B.
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