[All-Members] Federal Communications Commission Approves Notice of Inquiry on the SHAKEN Call Authentication Framework Developed by the SIP Forum/ATIS NNI Task Force

Tue Jul 18 12:37:38 UTC 2017

SIP Forum Members,

Please see an important announcement below from the SIP Forum:

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Federal Communications Commission Approves Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on the
SHAKEN Call Authentication Framework Developed by the SIP Forum/ATIS NNI
Task Force 

New FCC NOI seeks comment on implementing the SHAKEN Call Authentication
Framework, as well as the Commission's role in the process, to help further
secure the Nation's telephone networks from the scourge of Robocalls and
Caller ID Spoofing

NORTH ANDOVER, MA (July 18, 2017) - The SIP Forum (www.sipforum.org) has
announced that the United States Federal Communications Commission on July
13, 2017 voted 3-0 to approve an official Notice of Inquiry (WC Docket No.
17-97) <https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-345474A1.pdf>
seeking industry comment on the SIP Forum/ATIS SHAKEN Call Authentication
Framework, which sets forth a comprehensive methodology for validating phone
calls and mitigating Caller ID Spoofing and fraudulent Robocalling.

According to the FCC, Caller ID spoofing and the Robocalling it enables
generate the largest number of consumer complaints to the FCC and to the
Federal Trade Commission. U.S. consumers received an estimated 2.4 billion
Robocalls per month in 2016. Furthermore, in a recent Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking on Call Blocking, the FCC noted that illegal Robocalling activity
continues to grow despite industry efforts and the protections provided by
the Telephone Consumer Protection and Truth in Caller ID Act (TCPA). 

Although call blocking is one tool for combating illegal Robocalls, an
additional complementary task is to positively identify the bad actors
making these calls. A procedure for authenticating calls between service
providers aims to make it possible for subscribers and carriers to know that
callers are who they say they are, reducing the risk of fraud and ensuring
that callers can be held accountable for their calls.

According to Richard Shockey, SIP Forum Chairman and Principal of Shockey
Consulting, "With this Notice of Inquiry (NOI), the FCC is taking a decisive
step towards the goals of better protecting American consumers from the
scourge of unwanted and fraudulent Robocalls. We are grateful that the FCC
is taking corrective action in proposing industry adoption of the SHAKEN
framework to help secure our telephone networks by facilitating use of
methods to authenticate telephone calls and deter illegal Robocallers." 

"Caller ID Spoofing allows bad actors to hide their real, originating phone
numbers, and to impersonate a trusted party such as a bank or the IRS,
making it extremely difficult for consumers to know if a caller is
legitimate or not. It also hampers the effort of investigators and enforcers
to effectively combat the fraud that is often perpetrated. The support of
the SHAKEN Framework by the FCC, and its eventual adoption, is in the best
interests of the American people", adds Marc Robins, SIP Forum President and
Managing Director.

About the SIP Forum/ATIS NNI Task Force

The Network to Network Interface (NNI) Joint Task Force is a cooperative
effort between the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS)
and the SIP Forum that has been meeting regularly for the past three years
to define specifications to support SIP-based Service Provider to Service
Provider IP Interconnection. The Task Force is comprised of
telecommunications technical experts representing a range of telephony
service providers and suppliers, both large and small, which serve both
consumers and businesses. 

To address unwanted and illegal Robocalls, ATIS and the SIP Forum have been
working to develop standards to verify and authenticate caller
identification for calls carried over an Internet Protocol (IP) network
using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The ATIS and SIP Forum work
consists of a three-phase approach to solving the issue of caller
identification, using a digital certificate scheme to "verify and
authenticate caller identification for calls carried over an Internet
Protocol (IP) network."

Phase 1 (completed) consists of the development of the SHAKEN framework,
based on the protocols developed by the IETF's STIR working group (the STIR
framework), and describes the operations necessary for making an
authenticated telephone call using the SHAKEN framework. 

Phase 2 (completed) consists of the development of a "Governance Model and
Certificate Management for the Trust Anchor," describing the way in which
entities will be granted the trust necessary to vouch for call authenticity,
and the organizational structures needed to manage this process.
Specifically, this work introduces a governance model and defines X.509
certificate management procedures. Certificate management provides
mechanisms for validation of a certificate and verification of the
associated digital signature, allowing for the identification of
illegitimate use of national telecommunications infrastructure. 

Phase 3 consists of the development of a "Call Validation Display Framework"
that will recommend how to display SHAKEN/STIR information to consumers.
Phase 3 is still being developed by ATIS and the SIP Forum and is not a part
of the NOI. 

For more information about the NNI Task Force and Charter, and to obtain
copies of the completed, ratified specifications, please visit the NNI Task
Force Introduction
<https://www.sipforum.org/activities/nni-task-force-introduction/>  webpage.

Participation in the ATIS/SIP Forum Joint Task Force is open to ATIS and/or
SIP Forum members. With currently more than 150 participants, the Task Force
is currently meeting on a regular basis.

The SIP Forum leadership is available to provide a technical briefing into
the SHAKEN Framework. To request a briefing, please contact Marc Robins at
marc.robins at sipforum.org.

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 companies are currently working to address 5G, the
all-IP transition, network functions virtualization, big data analytics,
cloud services, device solutions, emergency services, M2M, cyber security,
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 and major U.S. contributor to the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American
Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit
http://www.atis.org.

About the SIP Forum

The SIP Forum is an IP communications industry association that engages in
numerous activities that promote and advance SIP-based technology, such as
the development of industry recommendations, the SIPit, SIPconnect-IT
interoperability testing events, special workshops, educational seminars,
and general promotion of SIP in the industry. The SIP Forum is also the
producer of the annual SIPNOC conferences (for SIP Network Operators
Conference), focused on the technical requirements of the service provider
community. One of the Forum's notable technical activities is the
development of the SIPconnect Technical Recommendation - a standards-based
SIP trunking recommendation that provides detailed guidelines for direct IP
peering and interoperability between IP PBXs and SIP-based service provider
networks, and the SIPconnect Certification Testing Program, a unique
certification testing program that includes a new certification test suite
and test platform, as well as an associated "SIPconnect Certified" logo
program that provides an official "seal of certification" for companies
products and services that have successfully passed the certification test
and officially achieved conformance with the SIPconnect specification. For
more information about SIP Forum initiatives, please visit:
https://www.sipforum.org.

SIP Forum Contact

Marc Robins
President & Managing Director
Phone: +1-203-829-6307 <tel:2038296307> 
Email: marc.robins at sipforum.org

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