Restoring Trust in Phone Calls

Protecting Canadians from Nuisance and Scam Calls

Over the past few years, Canadian consumers and businesses have received a high number of nuisance and fraudulent calls where a scammer has falsified their caller ID to make it look like a legitimate call. This has destroyed trust in the caller ID that is displayed on incoming calls and resulted in Canadians answering calls they wish they would not have and missing important calls they wish they would have answered.

Under a directive of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada’s leading carriers are working to address the problem and protect Canadians by implementing STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication. STIR/SHAKEN is a framework of interconnected technology standards that supports authentication of incoming calls and offers a level of assurance that a call is from a legitimate person, business, or government agency.

The Canadian Secure Token-Governance Authority (CST-GA) was formed under the guidance of the (CRTC) to nationally direct and oversee the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN standards to fight against illegal robocalls and call scams. Neustar plays a key role in the governance as the Secure Telephone Identity-Policy Administrator (STI-PA) and Secure Telephone Identity-Certification Authority (STI-CA) in Canada, as appointed by the Canadian Secure Token-Governance Authority (CST-GA).

  • As the Policy Administrator, Neustar provides comprehensive governance solution support to the CST-GA in enabling STIR/SHAKEN protocols across the Canadian telecommunications industry.
  • As a Certification Authority, Neustar issues digital STI Certificates used by Canadian carriers to authenticate and verify calls.