(Photo via Comcast) Comcast has a new feature intended to protect customers from illegal landline robocalls and caller ID spoofing.
Its new Verified Caller ID feature—a landline voice implementation of STIR/SHAKEN—displays a Verified (V) label on authenticated calls.
Americans received an estimated 46 billion robocalls nationwide in 2020, according to YouMail, which suggests each US household suffers an average 350-plus spam calls each year.
With that in mind, the telecom industry developed new technology to combat the spammers.
The "STIR" (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and "SHAKEN" (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) protocols are meant to curb spoofed phone numbers.
The process enables voice providers to "sign" and "verify" caller ID information in an attempt to prevent folks from deceiving and defrauding customers.
So, those weekly calls from mom will continue, but a prankster trying to reach you from "The White House" would be challenged.
Last year, the FCC voted in favor of adopting the STIR/SHAKEN suite of protocols across the entire industry.
"Comcast engineers helped pioneer STIR/SHAKEN and the company has been a leader in the industry-wide effort to combat fraudulent calls since day one," Kelly Barlow, senior vice president of connectivity services at Comcast, said in a statement.
"We'll continue to enable our customers with the tools to protect themselves and partner within the industry to help rid the nation's consumers of these dangerous calls for good."
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Non-Comcast customers, meanwhile, can find their own methods to block robocalls—via built-in iOS and Android features or third-party apps.
You can also register your mobile and landline numbers with the FTC's Do Not Call Registry, though that won't stop scammers and disreputable telemarketers from phoning.
(Photo via Comcast) Comcast has a new feature intended to protect customers from illegal landline robocalls and caller ID spoofing.
Its new Verified Caller ID feature—a landline voice implementation of STIR/SHAKEN—displays a Verified (V) label on authenticated calls.
Americans received an estimated 46 billion robocalls nationwide in 2020, according to YouMail, which suggests each US household suffers an average 350-plus spam calls each year.
With that in mind, the telecom industry developed new technology to combat the spammers.
The "STIR" (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and "SHAKEN" (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) protocols are meant to curb spoofed phone numbers.
The process enables voice providers to "sign" and "verify" caller ID information in an attempt to prevent folks from deceiving and defrauding customers.
So, those weekly calls from mom will continue, but a prankster trying to reach you from "The White House" would be challenged.
Last year, the FCC voted in favor of adopting the STIR/SHAKEN suite of protocols across the entire industry.
"Comcast engineers helped pioneer STIR/SHAKEN and the company has been a leader in the industry-wide effort to combat fraudulent calls since day one," Kelly Barlow, senior vice president of connectivity services at Comcast, said in a statement.
"We'll continue to enable our customers with the tools to protect themselves and partner within the industry to help rid the nation's consumers of these dangerous calls for good."
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Non-Comcast customers, meanwhile, can find their own methods to block robocalls—via built-in iOS and Android features or third-party apps.
You can also register your mobile and landline numbers with the FTC's Do Not Call Registry, though that won't stop scammers and disreputable telemarketers from phoning.
