Insights

Beyond STIR/SHAKEN: Insights from Jaime Zetterstrom Featured in the CFCA 2023 Global Fraud Loss Survey

Nov 30, 2023

Telecom fraud remains a global challenge, reveals a new survey conducted by the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA). 

The recently released 2023 Global Fraud Loss Survey calls attention to the challenges and opportunities in the ongoing battle against fraud in the telecom industry. Conducted since 1999, the survey encompasses responses from a wide range of communications service providers worldwide. Year over year, the survey offers a sense of the industry’s current fraud prevention efforts.

Providing insight in the report is Jaime Zetterstrom, Vice President of Product Management at Somos and a member of CFCA’s Board of Directors. In her article, Jaime focuses on constructive measures to enhance anti-fraud efforts and suggests expanding the STIR/SHAKEN framework – a tool that she notes was never meant to be a silver bullet. 

In her recommendations for industry progress, Jaime proposes three key steps: 

1. Gain clarity on the relationship between the call originator and the service provider. 
2. Achieve consistent deployment of STIR/SHAKEN across the entire telecom ecosystem, regardless of scale.
3. Create a comprehensive Trust Framework supported by clear vetting and Know Your Customer (KYC) practices.

Highlighting the significance of traceability in combating fraudulent calls, Jaime commends the role of the Industry Traceback Group, led by USTelecom, and stresses that for their efforts to be effective, they must have the data needed to identify the responsible party. Jaime also advocates for integrating analytics into the STIR/SHAKEN framework. Specifically, she emphasizes that we must have reliable data to achieve actionable results. 

Calling for collective action, Jaime’s article addresses the challenges facing the telecom industry. Likewise, it stresses that enhancing STIR/SHAKEN's effectiveness is a positive step toward fostering trust, confidence and security. And, as the industry progresses, Jaime notes that it’ll be interesting to see next year's survey results and whether her suggested steps were successful. Only time will reveal the impact of these efforts.

For more information about CFCA or the 2023 Global Fraud Loss Survey, visit www.cfca.org.