[Sipnoc24-attendees] BoF suggestion: It's Time to Put the Nail in the CNAM Coffin

[Keith Buell]

There are multiple secure methods of name display that are currently in development and/or deployment. Nevertheless, CNAM remains as the primary display method for caller name. It is notoriously unreliable. Currently, the White House main number comes up as "GSA Bill Once."  Senator Ed. Markey's DC office number displays as Sen. John Kerry, who used that phone number as senator but left office in 2013. I have used the customer service portals of all three major wireless carriers to change my CNAM from Keith Buell to "White House," "AT&T Inc.," and "Charles Schwab." I even got a green check mark on a faked White House call. (The phone number is real; the CNAM is not.) Anyone who can spoof a number--which is basically anyone--can have their incoming calls display the CNAM of legitimate calls from that number on the terminating device.

Is it time to end CNAM once and for all? We are trying to instill trust in the caller name display, and any insecure/inaccurate method undermines all the work we are collectively doing. We'd love to see the major carriers and the analytics providers join the discussion.

Current White House CNAM display
[cid:72d89f33-d850-4d3a-a4ce-7cb325e31ad4]

Faked green checkmark merely by changing CNAM through carrier portal but using real number.

[A screenshot of a phone]

Charles Schwab faked by changing CNAM in carrier portal.

[A screen shot of a phone  Description automatically generated][A phone with a screen on  Description automatically generated]

AT&T faked with green check mark by changing CNAM in carrier portal.
[A screen shot of a phone]


Current display of Sen. Markey's CNAM display.
[cid:73c87b8c-6eee-43eb-ab95-1fd334d3f43a]





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