OTTAWA and STERLING, Va. — The Canadian Secure Token – Governance Authority (CST-GA) announced today it selected Sterling, Va.-based Neustar Information Services as its Secure Telephone Identity Policy Administrator (STI-PA) and Certification Authority (STI-CA) as a first step toward implementation of STIR/SHAKEN call authentication to combat nuisance and fraud calls in Canada.
STIR/SHAKEN stands for Secure Telephony Information Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs, and it 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 person, business or government agency.
Neustar is co-author of STIR, co-contributor to SHAKEN, host of the ATIS Robocalling Testbed, and leading STIR/SHAKEN solution provider. In its new roles announced today, Neustar will partner with CST-GA and its shareholders to ensure both the STI-PA and STI-CA are available by September 30, 2020, says the news release.
“A significant number of complaints that the CRTC receives involve scammers using falsified caller IDs,” said Jacques Sarrazin, president of the CST-GA, in the release. “Formed by Canada’s leading carriers, the CST-GA is working collaboratively to address this growing problem. We are pleased to have Neustar on board to deliver STI-PA and STI-CA services, and in doing so, help protect Canadians from nuisance calls.”
As STI Policy Administrator, Neustar is providing comprehensive governance solution support to the CST-GA, enabling STIR/SHAKEN protocols across the Canadian telecommunications industry. As an STI Certification Authority, Neustar will issue digital STI certificates to be used by service providers to authenticate and verify calls.
“We applaud the CST-GA’s decisive action to combat nuisance calls and restore trust in the phone channel,” said James Garvert, senior vice-president and general manager of caller identification solutions at Neustar. “Carrier adoption of STIR/SHAKEN in Canada is a noteworthy step toward the potential formation of an international defence in the fight against illegal robocalls and call scams.”
To register and participate, or for more information about the CST-GA, please visit cstga.ca.
For more information about Neustar and STIR/SHAKEN standards, please visit www.stirshaken.neustar.
