news & events

Networks and digital devices bring both conveniences and new avenues for fraud. In 2020 alone, an overwhelming 4.7 million consumers reported fraud cases to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Technology Research Institute in partnership with iconectiv released a report—The 2021 State of Communications-Related Fraud, Identity Theft and Consumer Protection in the USA— which examines the complicated nature of today’s fraud and what consumers and service providers alike could do to better protect themselves.

Computer code is the foundation for every piece of technology, including businesses and services. Add to that, many customers assume that if a software or firmware update comes from the vendor, it’s safe to install, creating a target attack surface for hackers and other bad actors. Michael Iwanoff, Chief Information Security Officer, gives three informative tips on how businesses can secure themselves to better their supply chains.

With the rise of unwanted robocalls, ignored or blocked legitimate calls have a negative impact on U.S. companies and consumers. In a virtual summit hosted by The Network Media Group, iconectiv’s Chief Technology Officer Chris Drake, alongside experts from AT&T and CTIA addressed the importance of an industry-backed centralized telephone number registry to help maintain the integrity of one of our most important methods of communication – voice calls.

5G’s expansion has been going at full force for some time now. But still some service providers aren’t as up to speed as some of the others. Certain providers have taken up the business model of capitalizing on 5G, MEC and NVF to maximize scalability, flexibility and operational efficiency while enabling new services and revenue streams. In this article iconectiv’s director of product management, Sharon Dileo, discusses how proper business models could help rollout 5G in a timely manner.

Robocalling is a global epidemic that affects every corner of the world. In 2020, North America and Europe received a total of 157.4 billion robocalls. This year, American consumers alone have received nearly 22 billion in the first five months, with this number expected to reach more than 52 billion by the end of the year. In this Q&A with Vanilla Plus, iconectiv’s Chief Product Officer Michael O’Brien discusses the multiple measures being taken to tackle the global spread of robocalls and other frauds.

Spam and illegal robocalls have caused consumers to stop answering calls from numbers they don’t recognize. This poses a significant challenge for legitimate businesses trying to reach consumers by phone with important or timely updates and information. This Yahoo! Finance article discusses the latest effort to combat robocalls through the expansion of the SHAKEN protocol, allowing businesses an opportunity to register their numbers through the industry-backed program, Registered Caller. This move is intended to help business connect with customers and restore consumer confidence in consumer calls.

Legitimate businesses that rely on voice calls to reach their customers got a much-needed boost this week following the announcement by the Secure Telephone Identity Governance Authority (STI-GA) that they are expanding how trusted caller information can be established. This APNews.com article discusses how this policy change gives voice service providers that plan to use Delegate Certificates when implementing a STIR/SHAKEN framework the opportunity to have business customers register their telephone numbers with Registered Caller—the nation’s industry-backed centralized telephone number registry.