What is SHAKEN/STIR and A2P 10DLC? Follow
What is SHAKEN/STIR and How Does it Affect My Company?
New regulations in the telecom industry are taking hold as of June 30, 2021. The FCC implemented new protocols (called "SHAKEN/STIR") on June 30, 2021, to combat spam calls. If you use Law Ruler to make calls, there is nothing you will need to do. The phone carriers have updated their systems to ensure your calls will continue uninterrupted. If you would like more information, continue reading the article below.
- Increase call answer rates for trusted callers. Calls with the highest SHAKEN/STIR attestation can present a trust indicator, like “Caller Verified” as shown below, although it varies by carrier.
- Stop telephone hijacking and spoofing of numbers with near-instant traceback.
- You can improve the reputation score of your phone calls and give customers a reason to start picking up the phone again.
Sticking It to Robocallers and Scammers
Does it seem like you’re receiving more spam calls than a couple of years ago? That’s because you are. The Washington Post called robocalls an “epidemic.” Apparently, the FCC agrees.
In March, the FCC fined Texas-based telemarketers $225 million for transmitting approximately 1 billion robocalls. Many of the calls were spoofed, which the FCC defines as “when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity.”
"We’re not going to stop until we get robocallers, spoofers, and scammers off the line." – FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel
STIR/SHAKEN is another way the FCC is sticking it to spammers and scammers.
What is STIR/SHAKEN?
As of June 30, 2021, STIR/SHAKEN requires Caller ID authentication. What this means is that companies that call consumers MUST be who they say they are. Under the new regulations, tricking consumers to answer calls with spoofed or blocked caller IDs will no longer be tolerated. The recent changes will make it easier for law enforcement to track down offenders.
SHAKEN and STIR are acronyms. “STIR” stands for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited and “SHAKEN” stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs standards.
If one of the numbers registered to your company is flagged or was previously marked as a spam caller, then the rest will likely follow, and you will need to resolve the situation. Law Ruler will make every reasonable attempt to help you mitigate the situation to submit a request to improve your call attestation if you are flagged, but your company is responsible for complying with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding making phone calls and sending text messages.
How Does STIR/SHAKEN Classify Calls and Callers?
STIR protocols establish three levels (or "attestations") for call verification. To clarify who is calling, carriers will assign an attestation to each call that leaves their network:
Full Attestation: For situations in which a carrier is confident about who is calling. This will only impact outbound calls. For this level, registration is required.
Partial Attestation: As a Law Ruler customer, you will have this level by default. While we cannot control what a receiving carrier does, this level means your call should not be treated as spam under normal circumstances.
Gateway Attestation: This level is for calls considered spam by a carrier. You don’t want to be on this list but if it occurs, then you will need to prove your company is not a scam caller to get off of this list.
What is A2P 10DLC?
A2P 10DLC refers to a system in the United States that allows businesses to send text messages via standard 10-digit long code phone numbers, also known as local numbers, to consumers. The cellular carriers are able to provide better delivery quality and lower filtering of messages utilizing this new system.
What Do You Need to Do?
If you are a Law Ruler customer, there is usually nothing that you will need to do other than providing the required information to register your company. Law Ruler will register your company with the carriers as a Law Ruler customer. For you, that’s a win-win: you’ll receive less spam, and the calls your business makes will be verified and trusted.
The following information is required to register to make and receive calls on the Law Ruler platform:
- Business name
- Business address
- Business type (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, co-operative, limited liability company, or non-profit)
- Business registration number (your EIN/TIN - employer identification number) could be retrieved on https://www.hipaaspace.com/ein/ein_verification/ by entering the company name.
- Business industry - this will be legal, media, technology, or online or for most Law Ruler clients. Other options are available.
- Business region of operations - this will be North America (U.S. and Canada) for Law Ruler clients.
- Website URL
- Authorized representative - this following information is all required to verify your company and must be a director or member of the management team:
- First name
- Last name
- Phone number (list the number where they are easier to reach)
- Job position/role
- Business title - Director, GM, VP, CEO, CFO, General Counsel, Other (fill in a title is required)
- Consent to be contacted by our provider, Twilio
With that said, if more information is requested on your company by the carriers, then you must provide it to the Law Ruler team as that it must be submitted upstream to the carriers. If and when you are asked for more information, then you will need to provide it to ensure the proper attestation.
After a Business Profile has been submitted, it is vetted by Twilio's operations team. This process can take up to 72 hours. The team will confirm the supplied business information and then approve or reject the submission. We will notify you via email about the outcome of the vetting process and the status of the Business Profile.
During the vetting process, Twilio may reach out to the authorized representative in your Business Profiles to confirm the identity of your business.
Will SMS and MMS Text Messaging be Affected?
All of Law Ruler's customers have been registered with the carriers as Starter brands for A2P 10DLC, based on current usage rates. This means that your firm will only be able to send 3,000 segments per day. Once you exceed 3,000 segments, the messages may experience delivery failures.
If your firm needs to send more than 3,000 segments per day consistently, Law Ruler can re-register your firm as a Standard brand with the carriers, which can increase your messaging rates. Please contact support@lawruler.com for more information.
When Did STIR/SHAKEN Go Into Effect?
Telephony providers (aka the phone carriers and related companies) were required to certify in the Robocall Mitigation Database and implement the new protocols by June 30, 2021.
What Happens If My Company Is Flagged as a Spam Caller?
Please be advised that along with the increased SHAKEN/STIR regulatory changes, your company’s attestation profile will now be shared systemwide across all software and telephony providers and will no longer be unique to Law Ruler. Thus, if you are/were flagged as a spam caller by another company, then it is highly likely that your company will have the same issues if you are migrating to or from the Law Ruler platform.
If your company is flagged as a spam caller while on the Law Ruler platform, then you will need to resolve the situation. It is recommended to carefully review your calling practices to ensure compliance with industry best practices and all federal/state/local laws and regulations.
⚠️ Your company is responsible for complying with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding making phone calls and sending text messages.
Prior to SHAKEN/STIR, a company could have continuously kept changing phone numbers or jump from one software or telephony provider to another and avoided these measures, but that will no longer be the case as that caller attestation is per company, not per phone number.