[VoiceOps] STIR/SHAKEN Discussion: Will it help?

Peter Beckman beckman at angryox.com
Tue Dec 17 17:32:03 EST 2019


On Tue, 17 Dec 2019, Paul Timmins wrote:

> I see it as stopping fraud the same way SPF and DKIM stopped spam.

  Yes! Agreed. It makes legit traffic easier to identify, but does nothing
  to stop spam.

> On 12/17/19 3:38 PM, Dovid Bender wrote:
>> Mike beat me to it. It's going to stop fraud. The bigger issue you are 
>> going to have is the larger packets. So many devices out there can't seem 
>> to fragment packets correctly.
>> 
>> 
>> On Tue, Dec 17, 2019 at 3:28 PM <mike at astrocompanies.com 
>> <mailto:mike at astrocompanies.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     Hi Peter,
>>
>>     Good question.  First, if you're using Hooli, you'll have to
>>     migrate to
>>     Pipernet sooner or later.  Their middle-out compression provides
>>     much better
>>     call quality so it's worth the effort to migrate.
>>
>>     But to the issue you raised, the purpose of STIR/SHAKEN is not to
>>     block
>>     robocalls per se, it is to provide an authentication chain so that
>>     you can
>>     determine and contact the originating carrier regardless of the
>>     route the
>>     call took to reach the terminating side.  This has been a big
>>     issue; many
>>     VoIP companies hand off calls to large indifferent CLEC or IXCs
>>     who send
>>     them everywhere but won't respond to the terminating carrier's
>>     fraud and
>>     nuisance requests.
>>
>>     So, now we can see that the call was attested by Hooli, and if
>>     Hooli does
>>     not cooperate with our fraud/nuisance investigations we are now
>>     authorized
>>     to block traffic signed by Hooli.  That does fix the problem to a
>>     large
>>     degree.
>>
>>     However, it's also worthy of note that this is not the main
>>     problem that
>>     needs to be solved.  The main problem that needs to be solved is
>>     the case
>>     where you are sending the call to Hooli originating from a number
>>     that is
>>     assigned to our CLEC, which you don't have permission to use. This
>>     does
>>     solve that problem, because Hooli is only going to issue partial
>>     attestation
>>     for that call since it's not their number.  So we can still
>>     contact Hooli
>>     about it because they attested it and from that I can find them,
>>     but we or
>>     our subscriber can also block calls with partial attestations if
>>     we/they
>>     choose to.
>>
>>     Regards,
>>
>>     Mike
>>
>>     Mike Ray, MBA, CNE, CTE
>>     Astro Companies, LLC
>>     11523 Palm Brush Trail #401
>>     Lakewood Ranch, FL  34202
>>     DIRECT: call or text 941 600-0207
>>     http://www.astrocompanies.com
>>
>>     -----Original Message-----
>>     From: VoiceOps <voiceops-bounces at voiceops.org
>>     <mailto:voiceops-bounces at voiceops.org>> On Behalf Of Peter Beckman
>>     Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2019 2:58 PM
>>     To: VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org <mailto:voiceops at voiceops.org>>
>>     Subject: [VoiceOps] STIR/SHAKEN Discussion: Will it help?
>>
>>     A few months ago I attended an FCC STIR/SHAKEN discussion in
>>     Washington DC.
>>     They didn't get deep into the technical details but there were a
>>     bunch of
>>     big carrier representatives there.
>>
>>     If you haven't followed STIR/SHAKEN, it's really just an
>>     additional SIP
>>     header that contains cryptographically-signed information about
>>     the origin
>>     point of the call.
>>
>>     You can verify the signature with publically published public keys
>>     so you
>>     know whomever signed it is really them.
>>
>>     Here's a few resources if you want to learn more:
>>
>>     https://www.bandwidth.com/glossary/stir-shaken/
>>     https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication
>>     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STIR/SHAKEN
>>     https://www.home.neustar/stir-shaken-resource-hub
>>
>>     There are three levels to tell you how much you should trust the
>>     origin of
>>     the call:
>>
>>          1. Full -- The call came from the originating carrier's
>>     customer and is
>>              authorized to use the number
>>
>>          2. Partial -- The call came from the originating carrier's
>>     customer but
>>              may or may not be authorized to use the number
>>
>>          3. Gateway -- The carrier has authenticated from where it
>>     received the
>>              call, but cannot authenticate the call source (e.g.,
>>     International
>>              Gateway call).
>>
>>     As an example, as will be many legit cases, a Verizon Wireless mobile
>>     customer will place a call, which will route to Verizon, who will
>>     sign the
>>     call using STIR/SHAKEN with Full Attestation and we can all
>>     "trust" the
>>     call.
>>
>>     But now we throw in VoIP.
>>
>>     I'm a small customer, Initech, of a larger carrier, Hooli. I don't
>>     sign my
>>     calls, so I hand my calls to my larger carrier, Hooli. Hooli sees
>>     the call
>>     from me (their customer) with a valid CallerID I'm authorized to
>>     use and so
>>     Hooli signs the call with STIR/SHAKEN with Full Attestation.
>>
>>     Turns out the call was a robocall.
>>
>>     What changes? The only thing that changes is that the receiving
>>     party, say
>>     Soylent Corp, knows that Hooli originated the call. Soylent is not
>>     Hooli's
>>     customer, so how does Soylent complain to Hooli about the content
>>     of the
>>     call?
>>
>>     And as carriers, we are not legally responsible for the content of our
>>     customer's calls.
>>
>>     How will Soylent accept 90% of Hooli's Fully Attested valid
>>     traffic but
>>     avoid the 10% that is spam/robocalls that are ALSO Fully Attested?
>>
>>     How exactly does STIR/SHAKEN help fix the robocall and spam call
>>     problem?
>>
>>     Yes, I could block all of Hooli's calls where the attestation is
>>     Partial or
>>     Gateway, but you run the risk of false positives, especially in the
>>     International category, or just when Hooli isn't sure, like when I
>>     rent a
>>     DID from Acme but do termination through Hooli -- Hooli doesn't
>>     know that I
>>     am authorized to use that DID from Acme, even though I am, so
>>     Hooli has to
>>     mark my call as Partial or Gateway.
>>
>>     I'm all for reducing annoying spam and robocalls, but I'm still
>>     not yet
>>     convinced that STIR/SHAKEN is going to materially reduce them.
>>
>>     Let's discuss!
>>
>>     Beckman
>>     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>     Peter Beckman Internet Guy
>>     beckman at angryox.com <mailto:beckman at angryox.com>
>>     http://www.angryox.com/
>>     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Peter Beckman                                                  Internet Guy
beckman at angryox.com                                 http://www.angryox.com/
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