OTTAWA — The Canadian Secure Token Governance Authority (CST-GA), in partnership with Sterling, Va.-based Neustar Information Services, today announced it has launched the Canadian-based infrastructure and website for eligible carriers to register and join CST-GA to participate in the Secure Telephone Identity (STI) call authentication ecosystem using STIR/SHAKEN.
Designed to counter illegal robocalls and spoofed calls, STIR/SHAKEN is a framework of interconnected technology standards that supports authentication of incoming calls and offers a level of assurance that a call is from a legitimate source.
CST-GA is the national governance authority responsible for directing and overseeing the Secure Telephone Identity Policy Administrator (STI-PA) and Certification Authorities (STI-CA) in Canada. In July, CST-GA selected Neustar as its STI-PA and as an STI-CA.
The STI infrastructure announced today is hosted entirely in Canada, to meet CST-GA’s privacy, data security and governance requirements, says the press release.
“The launch of the new Secure Telephone Identity infrastructure represents a major step forward in the fight to protect consumers against nuisance calls,” said Jacques Sarrazin, president and CEO of CST-GA, in the release. “Canada is the second country to deploy a national STIR/SHAKEN framework, and we are proud to have operationalized the Policy Administrator and Certification Authority roles in just three months. Successful implementation of the STI framework is an important step toward allowing Canadians to once again answer the phone without apprehension.”
“The growing problem of nuisance and fraudulent calls in recent years has destroyed consumers’ confidence in the phone channel, to the point where many people have simply stopped answering their phones,” said James Garvert, senior vice-president and general manager of Caller Identification Solutions at Neustar. “Neustar is committed to tackling this scourge, and we commend CST-GA and the carriers it represents for taking action to help set the industry back on the path to restoring trust.”
Neustar is co-author of STIR, co-contributor to SHAKEN, host of the ATIS Robocalling Testbed, and a leading STIR/SHAKEN solution provider. As STI-PA, Neustar will provide governance solution support to CST-GA in enabling STIR/SHAKEN protocols across the Canadian telecom industry. As an STI-CA, Neustar will issue digital STI certificates to be used by service providers to authenticate and verify calls.
Neustar has also provided its Certified Caller STIR/SHAKEN hosted solution to several Canadian carriers, and is actively conducting tests with others, says the press release.
Canadian carriers can find information on how to become a CST-GA member at cstga.ca. CST-GA membership is a prerequisite to registering with Neustar. Once registered, carriers will find Neustar’s website, canada.policyadministrator.neustar, offers a one-stop, centralized resource that simplifies the STIR/SHAKEN onboarding process, says the release.
