Page 42 - Cyber Defense eMagazine December 2023

Advancing robocalls is a challenge the voice industry must take a proactive stance on. On the 20th July
2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced new rules to tackle robocallers and
the rise of sophisticated scams, limiting the number of robocalls placed on landline numbers. These
actions, however, have had an undesired effect, with some carriers fearing that they cannot adhere to
these new rules and switching off termination into the US as a result. This removes risk but also reduces
the footprint of where carriers can terminate traffic.

The FCC’s latest regulations are a necessary step to mitigating robocalls in the US, and action must be
taken on a global scale to truly address this rising risk. Deploying effective number information services
is essential for not only meeting compliance with the FCC’s latest rules but also keeping consumers safe
from unwanted calls.

AI and New Robocalling Risks

Fraudsters are increasingly benefitting from AI to create convincing deep fake robocalls to impersonate
business, banking and government executives, or even family members. Consumers are following the
instructions of fraudsters and give in to financial demands.

On top of this, scammers are also leveraging AI to rapidly automate calls. This allows them to originate
thousands of robocalls in minutes. They can analyse large amounts of data to understand calling patterns
and effectively target their victims.

If this trend continues, organisations making genuine calls will witness their business impacted by lower
answer rates, driven by consumer distrust of unrecognised calling line identifications (CLIs). This has the
potential to cause permanent damage to the reputation of the voice and messaging industries and
encourage voice users to migrate to other communications channels.

Restoring trust in CLIs is essential to securing the future of the voice industry and mitigating against fraud
and spam calls. This requires reliable and up-to-date numbering data intelligence solutions to eliminate
invalid numbers.

Cracking Down on Spam and Fraud

An increasing number of consumers and businesses continue to be majorly impacted by ongoing AI-
powered robocalls. National voice infrastructure must implement basic security protocols to keep users
protected.

To ensure that all carriers effectively address robocalls, they need to deploy simple and efficient methods
to validate CLI and accurately block invalid traffic. They can leverage the following solutions to harden
their stance against fraud in voice and protect consumers:

Cyber Defense eMagazine – December 2023 Edition 42
Copyright © 2023, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.