SHAKEN/STIR – What do you need to do to ensure your calls get answered?

SHAKEN/STIR – What do you need to do to ensure your calls get answered?

In this post, we’ll go over what SHAKEN/STIR is, its importance, and how to get started.

What is the problem that is being solved with SHAKEN/STIR?

Consumers don’t answer the phone anymore because the public telephone network has been flooded by Spam and robocalls. This is making it harder than ever for businesses to engage with their customers. In 2019 alone, over 50 billion robocalls in the United States eroded trust in the telephone network and led to a drop in call answer rates from unidentified numbers! SHAKEN/STIR is here to combat this problem.

What is SHAKEN/STIR?

SHAKEN/STIR is a caller authentication framework meant to help restore trust by reducing fraudulent robocalls and illegal phone number spoofing. SHAKEN stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs, and STIR stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited. They are standards developed by ATIS and the IETF respectively.

Twilio Signing Policy

In a SHAKEN/STIR call the originating carrier (Twilio in this case) signs calls with different attestation levels based on knowing the caller and the caller's right to use a phone number. The three attestation level are Full Attestation (A), Partial Attestation (B), and Gateway Attestation (C):

• A means the Identity of the caller is known, and they have the right to use the callerId in the outgoing call to the PSTN.
• B means the Identity of the caller is known but Twilio does not know if they have the right to use the callerId.
• C means all others, including international calls

Please note that calls signed with B and C should not be blocked on this piece of information alone. However, carriers will take this into consideration so the better your attestation, the better chance of your calls being answered. To ensure your calls aren’t mis-labeled as SPAM and/or filtered, you should follow what is outlined in this article in addition to following the steps to get A attestation if possible.

What do you need to do?

In order to enable SHAKEN/STIR on your outgoing calls and get A you will need to onboard onto our TrustHub with just a few steps.

Direct Customers:

1. Create a Business Profile on your Parent Account(s) in the Trust Hub part of the Console and submit for vetting. Click here.
2. Assign phone numbers in your account to the Business Profile. This associates a single identity with the phone number.
3. Create a SHAKEN/STIR Trust Product and submit for vetting.
4. Assign phone numbers already assigned to your Business Profile identity to the SHAKEN/STIR Trust Product

ISVs/Re-Sellers:

1. Create a Business Profile on your Parent Account(s) in the Trust Hub part of the Console and submit for vetting. Click here.
2. Create Secondary Business Profile(s) for your customer(s). This can be in your Parent Account or Sub-Account depending on your setup.
3. Assign phone numbers in your account to the Secondary Business Profile. This associates a single identity with the phone number.
4. Create a SHAKEN/STIR Trust Product and submit for vetting.
5. Assign phone numbers already assigned to your Secondary Business Profile identity to the SHAKEN/STIR Trust Product.

Important things to note:

• If you are not using Twilio Phone Numbers, you should still onboard with your Primary Business Profile(s) but you will only be able to achieve B attestation. You cannot assign Verified Caller IDs at this time.
• If you have at a minimum an approved Primary Business Profile and SHAKEN/STIR Profile we will sign B on all your outgoing calls from that Parent Account and all of it’s Sub-Accounts
• SHAKEN/STIR is in for the US at this time (Only Canadian providers having the ability to sign at this time)
• User doc: https://www.twilio.com/docs/voice/trusted-calling-using-shakenstir

By following the steps outlined, you'll increase the chance of your calls getting answered. For more information, visit our page on SHAKEN/STIR.

Quinn Hare is a Product Manager in the Programmable Voice BU, focusing on restoring consumer trust in Voice with SHAKEN/STIR.