BULVERDE, Texas, December 4, 2019 — Futurex today announced that it has joined the fight against unwanted robocalls and caller ID spoofing by forming a SHAKEN/STIR Taskforce with the goals of helping telephone service providers and others across the industry implement compliant, scalable, and secure SHAKEN/STIR solutions.
The billions of robocalls placed each year degrade trust in the phone system and cost consumers and businesses billions of dollars in losses. To respond to this crisis, the telecommunications industry has developed a framework of interconnected standards called SHAKEN (Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) and STIR (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) that define how telephone service providers should work together to ensure calling numbers have not been spoofed.
The SHAKEN/STIR specification uses digital certificates and public key infrastructure (PKI) techniques to validate caller authenticity and must be implemented correctly to prevent the system from being compromised. Regardless of whether a SHAKEN/STIR solution is on-premises or hosted in the cloud, encryption keys should be secured using a hardware security module (HSM) such as Futurex’s Key Management Enterprise Server (KMES) Series 3.
“It’s time to put an end to robocalls and the telecommunication industry is moving in the right direction by embracing proven and highly secure encryption and key management techniques,” said Ryan Smith, vice president of global business development at Futurex. “We offer best-in-class cryptographic technology and solutions for top-tier organizations and are excited to have the opportunity to bring this expertise forward to help with implementation of SHAKEN/STIR.”
For SHAKEN/STIR to be effective, all telecommunications providers regardless of size need to be on board. However, many companies lack the necessary knowledge and expertise needed to implement a complex specification such as SHAKEN/STIR. The goal of the Futurex SHAKEN/STIR Taskforce, in conjunction with key partners, is to fill this knowledge gap and help customers define and implement the correct solution for their needs.
“Implementing SHAKEN/STIR to verify caller IDs will greatly help reduce fraudulent calls and robocalls,” said Mark B. Cooper, president and founder of PKI Solutions. “In order for this effort to be successful, it will require broad telecommunications industry support and active involvement from companies such as Futurex, that offer data encryption solutions to protect private keys and certificates.”
To learn more about the Futurex SHAKEN/STIR Taskforce, please visit: https://www.futurex.com/solutions/telecom-shaken-stir.
About Futurex
For more than 39 years, Futurex has been a trusted provider of hardened, enterprise-class data security solutions. More than 15,000 organizations worldwide, including financial services and enterprises, use Futurex’s innovative Hardened Enterprise Security Platform and the VirtuCrypt Hardened Enterprise Security Cloud – hardware security modules, key management servers, and enterprise-class security cloud solutions – to address their mission-critical systems, data security, and cryptographic needs. This includes the secure encryption, storage, transmission, and certification of sensitive data. For more information, please visit https://www.futurex.com.