Twilio Begins Using SHAKEN/STIR Protocols to Help Stop Illegal Robocalls

Twilio, a cloud communications platform provider, has launched an initiative to authenticate enterprise calls on Twilio's platform to help ensure that end users receive calls from trusted sources. The process has started in the United States and will expand during the course of the next year.

The authentication process has been developed and implemented by Twilio to comply with the SHAKEN/STIR protocol. Once SHAKEN/STIR is fully implemented among the rest of the telecommunications industry, Twilio will be able to verify customer calls received on the Twilio platform, providing consumers with the information necessary to decide whether to answer the call.

"Launching our initiative to sign enterprise customer calls within the SHAKEN/STIR framework puts Twilio at the forefront of industry-wide efforts to ensure trusted customer communications, particularly with regards to calls from businesses," said Jesper Joergensen, general manager of voice and video at Twilio, in a statement. "Authentication is only one part of the overall calling process but is a crucial element for overcoming the toxic effects of spoofing and illegal robocalls. We want our customers to know that we are doing everything we can to make sure that their calls are indeed received and answered."

Twilio's authentication efforts are part of a larger effort to comply with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission mandate that voice service providers adopt the SHAKEN/STIR protocol by June 2021. The goal is to implement a system-wide program to digitally sign and verify calls, allowing consumers and business users to be confident that the caller ID information they are seeing has been verified.

Twilio is able to support the deployment of SHAKEN/STIR by partnering with Neustar to digitally sign and verify calls in real time made on Twilio's platform. By incorporating automated caller identity validation, Twilio will be able to detect and flag illegally spoofed calls in real time to protect users from phone scams and ensure that legitimate and wanted calls are indeed received and answered by end users.