Insights

Telecom Industry Leaders Unite to Combat Fraud and Chart “The Future of Identity”

Oct 31, 2023

In a gathering of telecom, government and business professionals from around the globe, industry leaders converged to discuss: The Future of Identity in the Digital World. Central to this conversation was the role of our ubiquitous smartphones as an indispensable tool in modern life and an evolving landscape of digital interconnectedness.

All of this and more took center stage at the 2023 Somos Summit.  Gina Perini, Chair of the Board of Directors and CEO at Somos, offered attendees a strategic perspective on how the telecom industry can better protect consumers, businesses, service providers and most importantly, their digital identities, from progressive telecom fraud. 

Specifically, she discussed how, in today's digital realm, data can be elusive and obscure the boundaries of trusted identity. The dominant mode of communication and commerce – our smartphones – are more and more becoming a principal way to verify one’s identity. However, the process of ensuring that an identity is trustworthy over these devices remains an unfinished task according to Gina. More disconcerting, she noted, the persistent menace of robocalls and robotext scams is eroding consumer trust in telecom. 

Fraud isn't confined to consumers alone; however, businesses are also bearing the brunt as scammers increasingly target enterprises. Deceptive practices, such as brand identity impersonation, have led consumers to hesitate to answer calls and texts from unknown sources, causing them to potentially miss crucial communications. Moreover, Gina opined on how legitimate businesses are grappling with the challenge of ensuring their calls are not erroneously flagged as spam. This impediment is increasingly frustrating enterprises, as it can block their ability to connect with customers.

Recognizing the collective efforts already taken to combat fraud, Gina noted that it isn’t all doom and gloom – the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN has been a dynamic step toward providing consumers with more visibility into their incoming calls. As effective as STIR/SHAKEN has been though, it’s only a first step, NOT a final solution. As a next step, Gina issued a call to action for the industry – we need to develop a comprehensive framework that not only authenticates identities but also maintains said validation throughout the call journey.

The pathway toward establishing trusted identity is a complex task – but an essential and achievable one that demands collaboration, creativity and innovation by the entire telecom ecosystem. And, with a unified effort, we can set the stage for a secure, trusted digital identity landscape.

To learn more about the 2023 Somos Summit and to gain access to on-demand recordings, visit www.somos.com/summit.