STIR/SHAKEN statistics from April 2022

The April STIR/SHAKEN statistics show some alarming trends, but help might be on the way. Let’s have a look.

SHAKEN-signed robocalls are a growing problem

Many Robocalls Signed B or C

Figure 1. Calls Signed with B or C Attestation 3x More Likely to be Robocalls

If you’ve been following our monthly SHAKEN statistics articles, you know that some robocallers are getting their robocalls signed. In April 2022, this trend continued. Calls signed with B or C attestation were three times more likely to be robocalls than unsigned calls.

Figure 1 shows that 10.84% of calls signed with B attestation were robocalls. Calls signed with C attestation were just half a percentage point behind.

Robocalls Are Increasing

Figure 2. Robocalls Increasing Among All Call Types

Figure 2 shows this trend over the past six months. December 2021 was a big month for signed robocalls as seen with the red (B - Partial) and blue (C - Gateway) lines. The numbers dropped in January but have been climbing ever since.

Robocalls are increasing at all attestation levels. The grey line shows that robocalls are also on an upward trend among all calls.

SHAKEN participation remains low

Most Calls Were Unsigned

Figure 3. Most Calls Received Were Unsigned

Figure 3 shows that most calls received, 77.07%, were unsigned. This doesn’t bode well for robocall prevention, which works better when you know whether the calling number was spoofed.

Signed Calls Leveling Off

Figure 4. The Percentage of Signed Calls Remains Level

Figure 4 shows that the percentage of signed calls has leveled off at around 24%.

SHAKEN Signers Leveling Off

Figure 5. The Number of SHAKEN OSPs Remains Level

Figure 5 shows that the number of Originating Service Providers (OSPs) signing calls has essentially leveled off with a slight increase from 265 in March to 268 in April.

Prognosis

The trends are not good, but help may be on the way:

1. Non-facilities based small providers must implement SHAKEN by June 30, 2022. Robocalls are thriving in the SHAKEN ecosystem, so it’s difficult to be optimistic about the near-term impact. However, increased accountability and enforcement might begin to tip the balance in a better direction.
2. The FCC has scheduled a vote on rules to require gateway providers to implement SHAKEN and perform robocall mitigation.
3. New legislation has been introduced to improve robocall traceback.
4. The FCC should begin to phase out the non-IP exclusion for SHAKEN implementation. New standards were approved in July 2021. This would bring a huge portion of calls into the SHAKEN ecosystem.

It’s been a long journey standing up the SHAKEN ecosystem. The wheels turn ever so slowly, but they do turn.

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