Ribbon launches robocall-fighting managed service

Ribbon Communications, real-time software and packet and optical transportation solution provider, has announced two new managed as-a-service features to its Ribbon Call Trust portfolio: STIR/SHAKEN-as-a-Service and Reputation Scoring. These services will help reduce robocalls and phone-based fraud attacks.

Everyone’s just about fed up with robocalls and phone fraudsters, such as those posing as car warranty administrators trying to separate you from your money. Ribbon’s new services look to mitigate these annoying calls at the service provider.

STIR/SHAKEN is actually an acronym that stands for Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN), a caller authentication, signing and verification process required in the US and Canada to prevent call spoofing.

Ribbon’s STIR/SHAKEN-as-a-Service aims to help service providers comply with its namesake regulations without the cost of implementing it in their own networks.

The Reputation Screening offering improves upon STIR/SHAKEN-as-a-Service with real-time, multidimensional scoring of calls to help mitigate fraud and nuisance calls. It does so by using in-call insight and actionable intelligence that allows the service provider to decide how to act. With this information, the service provider can choose to let the call complete as normal, send it to voicemail, modify the caller name to “Scam,” Fraud” or another name, or outright block the call.

"Fraud and unwanted robocalls are undermining consumer confidence in voice communications services in a number of markets around the world," said Patrick Donegan, founder & principal analyst at HardenStance.

"Service providers that commit to mitigating these risks should be investing in a cloud-based, managed solution like Ribbon's STIR/SHAKEN-as-a-Service and Reputation Scoring. Service providers should find these a lot more cost-effective than building out their own dedicated identity assurance infrastructure."

STIR/SHAKEN-as-a-Service and Reputation Scoring are available as part of Ribbon Call Trust portfolio and run on Ribbon’s cloud-based Identity Hub.