What STIR/SHAKEN actually does
STIR (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) defines how a call’s caller ID gets a digital signature; SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) defines how carriers apply and pass that signature through the call path. In combination, they let a terminating carrier verify that the caller ID on an incoming call was authenticated by the originating carrier, rather than trusting the number unverified — the core defense against caller-ID spoofing.
The three attestation levels
Calls are attested at one of three levels. Full attestation (A) means the originating carrier authenticated both the caller and their right to use that specific number. Partial attestation (B) means the carrier authenticated the caller but not their right to that specific number. Gateway attestation (C) means the call entered the carrier’s network from an untrusted source with no verification of the caller’s identity at all. Lower attestation levels are the calls most likely to get flagged or blocked by carrier and handset-level spam filtering.
Why this matters for answer rates, not just compliance
Attestation level is not primarily a legal requirement on the calling organization directly — it is largely a carrier and infrastructure responsibility — but it has a direct commercial consequence: calls with weak or missing attestation are more likely to be labeled as spam risk by carriers and consumer call-screening apps, which suppresses answer rates regardless of how compliant the underlying campaign is. A contact center can run a fully TCPA/DNC-compliant campaign and still see poor answer rates if its calls are consistently attested at a low level.
What to ask a contact-center vendor about STIR/SHAKEN
Ask whether the platform’s outbound calling path is aware of carrier attestation policy and can route or flag calls accordingly, and whether the vendor works with underlying carrier infrastructure that supports proper caller-ID registration and attestation. A vendor that cannot discuss attestation level at all is a signal that carrier trust has not been engineered into the calling path.
Where Voz360’s carrier-policy layer fits in
Voz360’s Compliance Engine includes STIR/SHAKEN-aware carrier policy as part of its outbound gate sequence, alongside DNC, TCPA consent, and allowed-hours checks, so carrier trust posture is considered as part of the same compliance-gating layer rather than treated as a purely separate telephony concern. Specific carrier registration, attestation configuration, and number-reputation management are confirmed with the technical team during discovery, since they depend on carrier relationships and number provisioning.
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