The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act provided the Federal Communications Commission with new tools to fight unwanted, and often illegal, robocalls. The TRACED Act required the FCC to mandate the STIR/SHAKEN caller identification framework. As noted above, STIR/SHAKEN enables phone companies to verify that the caller ID information transmitted with a call matches the caller’s real phone number. The TRACED Act required the Commission to assess the burdens and barriers providers may face in implementing the STIR/SHAKEN framework on their networks and permitted the Commission to grant extensions for phone companies that face undue hardship in implementation, so long as those companies perform robocall mitigation to ensure they are not the source of illegal robocalls. The TRACED Act required the FCC to aggregate and share information on best practices for implementation of STIR/SHAKEN technology.

While there are some current challenges with respect to discerning the legality of some robocalls, the ability to identify clearly illegal, or even definitively fraudulent, robocalls represents an achievable goal with the correct approach and tools. There is a need for content-based communications analytics that focuses on what is delivered in the media layer such as audio clips left behind as voicemail by unwanted robocalls.

YouMail Protective Services (YouMailPS) provides a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that fulfills the aims of the TRACED Act by providing carriers with robocall mitigation services that detect when they are originating, carrying, or terminating bad traffic on their networks. YouMailPS protects consumer-facing enterprises by helping detect and shut down imposter traffic that can lead to financial or brand damage.

The FCC has mandated that all service providers implement an ongoing robocall mitigation program to prevent the origination of unwanted robocalls. As service providers implement STIR/SHAKEN authentication technology to comply with the TRACED Act, they must support call attestation with a “know your customer” (KYC) process that validates customer legitimacy. Monitoring telephone number behavior via content-based analytics provide an efficient and effective means of supporting KYC.

It is recommended that every service provider leverage data analytics for informed decision making. In the battle against illegal robocalls, it is important to note that analytics approaches may be defined by two broad categories: (1) Event-based analytics and (2) Content-based analytics. Content-based analytics relies upon inspection of the actual telephone call content to describe what has occurred. In contrast, event-based analytics relies upon network signaling such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages and other call related data. Data from signaling, switching, and handset resources such as answer seizures and/or call duration rates is used for event-based analytics because algorithms are attempting to predict outcomes based on an assessment of the data presented.

YouMail Protective Services provides robocall compliance software of three types: (1) Score, which represents telephone number scoring as a service derived via content-based analytics. Data analyzed includes audio content associated with unwanted robocalls received by the public. (2) Watch, which provides telephone number behavior as a service via content-based analytics. Data analyzed includes audio content associated with unwanted robocalls received by the public. (3) Clear, which represents traffic analysis as a service via a combination of service provider data analysis and content-based analytics.

Utilizing a combination of algorithms and data, robocall compliance software leverages analytics engines that apply risk-based scoring driven by algorithms employing probabilistic rule sets. Algorithms may also stop some unwanted robocalls completely, such as those that are blocked or not allowed to originate based on deterministic rules.

Call labeling, redirection and blocking are examples of real-time robocall mitigation. Non-real-time solutions include call monitoring via content-based analytics to support Know Your Customer (KYC) processes and procedures. For example, YouMail Protective Services provides the Watch solution to allow number owners to identify unwanted or even unlawful telephone number behaviors. This greatly enhances KYC including customer and number resource lifecycle management.

VoIP and SIP have provided many benefits including greater flexibility including less reliance on few vendors, lower costs, lower barrier to entry and improved competition, and greater survivability through multiple routes and redundancy. One of the unintended consequences of ultracheap networking is that some telephone numbers are treated as a near worthless asset. Robocall VoIP software provides the ability to monitor telephone number user behavior via third-party, content-based analytics.

Bad actors are constantly changing their tactics including the telephone numbers and prerecorded audio that they use to perpetrate unlawful calls. Ongoing mitigation software represents a future-proof solution that provides zero-hour detection and response.

A collection of technologies that leverage patented AI algorithms to analyze communications content. These algorithms first accurately identify unwanted calls. Secondly, unique digital fingerprints are created and matched with associated telephone numbers used by bad actors. Fingerprints often follow bad actors wherever they go – across spoofed telephone numbers and multiple originating service providers. YouMail’s adaptive algorithms are effective regardless of attack duration, frequency, and other tactics.

Service providers may use Score for real-time decision making such as labeling, redirecting or blocking calls. Service providers may use Watch for informed Know Your Customer (KYC) decisions. The Watch data dashboard supplements service provider KYC, providing a convenient and easy to use web-based portal that provides a visualization of unwanted robocall campaigns and content details. These solutions leverage YouMail’s live call sensor network and powerful AI algorithms to identify telephone numbers that are originating unlawful calls. The YouMail threat database maintains a continuously updated list of telephone number and their associated campaigns.