As Caller ID Spoofing and Illegal Robocalls Skyrocket Worldwide, New GSMA Working Group VINES Helps Service Providers Restore Consumer Trust in Caller ID

• What’s the News: Validating INtegrity of End-to-End Signaling (VINES) is a new GSMA Working Group developing solutions to prevent internetwork signaling fraud, which includes illegal robocalls, spoofing, toll bypass and consumer fraud. In this role, iconectiv is sharing its expertise in enabling trusted, verified communications worldwide, including serving as the U.S. Secure Telephone Identity Policy Administrator (STI-PA), an integral part of the STIR/SHAKEN robocall-mitigation ecosystem.
• Who’s involved: As chair and a contributing member of the VINES Working Group, iconectiv will provide expertise in identifying ways to prevent internetwork signaling fraud in a manner that’s flexible enough to be adopted universally and effective enough to reduce fraudulent activity (e.g., callerID spoofing, Wangiri one-ring scams, interconnect bypass).
• Why it Matters: Regulators, businesses and service providers face an uphill battle to mitigate telco and consumer fraud as well as illegal robocalls, which have grown 325% worldwide and are now nearly half of all unwanted calls in the U.S.
• Who’s it for: Service providers and standards bodies worldwide can leverage VINES solutions to restore consumer trust in communications, combat billions of dollars annually in service provider fraud and help protect their customers from fraud via spoofed numbers. The VINES working group will also help service providers ensure that legitimate international business calls are not mistakenly flagged as spam.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – June 16, 2020 – Service providers and their customers lose billions of dollars annually to fraudulent activity such as toll bypass and caller ID spoofing. Illegal robocalls are nearly half of all unwanted calls in the U.S., according to the FCC, while increasing 325% globally.

A new GSMA Working Group chaired by iconectiv—Validating INtegrity of End-to-End Signaling (VINES)—is developing solutions to prevent internetwork signaling fraud, which enables illegal robocalls, spoofing, toll bypass and consumer fraud. The goal of the working group is to help service providers worldwide implement a set of specifications to mitigate fraud, as well as help restore customer trust in caller ID.

Canada and the U.S. have mandated the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) framework for authenticating call information. The VINES Working Group is exploring how elements of STIR/SHAKEN, could be a complement to other security architectures, as well as how other solutions can interwork with STIR/SHAKEN.

iconectiv is sharing its expertise in enabling trusted, verified communications worldwide, including as the U.S. Secure Telephone Identity Policy Administrator (STI-PA), an integral part of the STIR/SHAKEN ecosystem. iconectiv’s experience with STIR/SHAKEN will help the working group determine whether the potential solutions can interwork, which is key for ensuring authentic internetwork and cross-border calls.

“Illegal robocalling, caller ID spoofing and other fraud are enormous, expensive problems for service providers and their customers worldwide,” said Richard Jacowleff, CEO, iconectiv. “The GSMA recognized that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The new VINES Working Group brings together the global leaders in trusted communications to identify solutions that service providers worldwide can choose from to mitigate fraud and restore customer trust in communications. iconectiv is proud to serve as chair and as a contributing member for this critical initiative.”