iconectiv SVP George Cray sees the success of authenticating callers at the source—as done with STIR/SHAKEN—as a model that communication service providers can extend to cross-border calls

• What’s the News: The SIP Forum has elected iconectiv SVP George Cray to its Board of Directors
• Why it Matters: As the policy administrator for the U.S. Calling Number Verification Service, the SIP-based STIR/SHAKEN call authentication framework, and a leader in trusted communications, iconectiv will help SIP Forum members and the rest of the communications ecosystem continue to restore consumer trust in voice calling.
• Who’s it for: Companies, regulators and government officials focused on mitigating illegal robocalling in the United States, as well as for legitimate businesses.

Good news for consumers, businesses and the communication service providers (CSPs) that serve them: Illegal robocalls are trending down. Juniper Research estimates that the robocall mitigation framework in the US—STIR/SHAKEN—has reduced the year-on-year growth of fraudulent losses to illegal robocalling in the region by 85% between 2022 and 2023. And by 2025, fraudulent losses arising from robocalling are anticipated to decline for the first time in North America. This trend is steadily restoring consumer trust in caller ID, making consumers more inclined to answer important calls from their doctor, school, insurance provider and other legitimate businesses rather than letting them drop into voicemail.

The SIP-based STIR/SHAKEN call authentication framework has played an instrumental role in turning the tide by enabling CSPs to verify that caller ID information transmitted with a call matches the caller’s real phone number. iconectiv's George Cray is bringing his STIR/SHAKEN expertise to the SIP Forum as a newly elected member of its Board of Directors.

As Senior Vice President of Product at iconectiv, Cray leads a team responsible for several platforms and industry registries designed to help CSPs restore consumer trust in voice and messaging. One example is the U.S. Calling Number Verification Service, where iconectiv is the policy administrator. Cray and his team also contribute to industry advancements through the FCC NANC, CTIA CyberSecurity working group and numerous ATIS committees and GSMA working groups.

“For years, one of the SIP Forum’s top priorities has been helping the telecom ecosystem mitigate the scourge of illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing,” said SIP Forum President and Managing Director Marc Robins. “A prime example is our collaboration with ATIS to develop STIR/SHAKEN, which the FCC subsequently mandated in 2020. That work is paying off, and iconectiv has been a major contributor in that effort. I look forward to working with George and the rest of the SIP Forum Board of Directors to continue to provide the industry with even more innovative technologies and best practices.”

“STIR/SHAKEN highlights the value of an authoritative verification framework that all CSPs can leverage to protect their consumer and enterprise customers against spoofing and other fraud,” Cray said. “Now it’s time to extend that trust model to the world with a new global framework that CSPs everywhere can use to vet their trading partners and the traffic they generate. The SIP Forum is uniquely positioned to take the lead in turning this vision into reality and ushering in an era of trusted cross-border calling and messaging.”

As a member of the Board of Directors, Cray will help provide guidance and overall governance of all SIP Forum operations. He succeeds iconectiv CTO Chris Drake, who was elected to the board in March 2021.

For more information about the SIP Forum, visit https://www.sipforum.org.

About iconectiv

Your business and your customers need to access and exchange information simply, seamlessly and securely. iconectiv’s extensive experience in information services and its unmatched numbering intelligence helps you do just that. In fact, more than 2 billion people count on our platforms each day to keep their networks, devices and applications connected. Our cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions span network and operations management, numbering, trusted communications and fraud prevention. For more information, visit www.iconectiv.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About the SIP Forum

The SIP Forum is a leading IP communications industry association that engages in numerous activities that promote and advance SIP-based technology, such as the development of industry recommendations; interoperability testing events including SIPit, and special workshops, educational activities, and general promotion of IP communications standards, services, and technology for service provider, enterprise and governmental applications. The SIP Forum is also the producer of the annual SIPNOC conferences (for SIP Network Operators Conference), focused on the technical requirements of the service provider community, the STIR/SHAKEN SUMMIT, KYC SUMMIT, and other industry events. Other important Forum initiatives include maintaining working groups in SIP trunking, security, SIP and IPv6, and IP-based Network-to-Network Interconnection (IP-NNI) and the SHAKEN Call Authentication Framework. For more information about SIP Forum initiatives, please visit: https://www.sipforum.org.

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