Private Caller ID Solutions Safer Than Public: Transaction Network Services
Transaction Network Services (TNS) told the FCC that publishing call identification information in a public call placement service (CPS) raises the risk that it will be “intercepted and abused by bad actors.” TNS weighed in this week in the FCC proceeding closing a “gap” in the commission’s Stir/Shaken authentication rules (see 2508180029).
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“Relying on an external data source like a public CPS increases the risk that call and authentication information can be intercepted and abused by bad actors,” TNS said in docket 17-97. A private CPS can be established “between specific, designated entities to ensure information is exchanged between these entities,” the company said. “A private CPS is significantly more secure than a public CPS because relevant information is only available to the designated entities, and it is not exposed more broadly through an accessible external data source.”
Alaskan carrier GCI warned the FCC that converting the company’s entire network footprint to IP will “take time and resources to complete.” GCI has almost 180 time-division multiplexing-based trunk groups that are used to connect remote Alaskan villages, the carrier said. It has been “testing a carrier-grade IP-enabled switch that would allow GCI to upgrade TDM wireline switches to IP-enabled switches in remote village locations across the state,” the carrier said. But a project of this size will take “significant resources and time, particularly in Alaska, where the Commission has recognized that providers ‘face unique circumstances including Alaska’s large size, varied terrain, harsh climate, isolated populations, shortened construction season, and lack of access to infrastructure.’”