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By Joe Herron
March 16, 2016
There’s a battle raging against telecom fraud. Are you doing all you can to win this war?
To truly evaluate this question, you first have to understand you are in a battle! And your enemy is the fraudsters. It may seem politically incorrect to talk about having enemies, but let me ask a few simple questions. Are fraudsters out to profit from your efforts? Can fraudsters cause damage and even total destruction? Do fraudsters attack from multiple fronts? Do fraudsters work together to obtain their end result? The answer to all these questions is an unqualified YES! So what can you do? To be victorious, you must become battle ready by arming yourself with necessary knowledge, tools, and training. To help with this effort, Equinox is launching a new webinar series on effectively using all the weapons in your arsenal.
The battle is on! Therefore, you must rally the troops and find allies that support your cause. For telecom carriers, this represents joining organizations like CFCA where information is shared regarding how fraudsters are hitting the networks and mitigation strategies. Equinox is a long time and active member of this organization. Through interactions in the industry and with our customers, Equinox early on realized the importance of information sharing for telecom carriers combatting fraud. As a result, Protector’s Hot List was born. This feature allows all carriers in the Protector community to benefit from a list of shared numbers to detect fraudulent activity without exposing any of the carrier’s proprietary information. The term ‘crowdsourcing’ is often used to describe this process. And we are firm believers in this movement to share information that helps protect you and your customers, all the while avoiding duplicate time and effort.
When allies share, sometimes the volume of information may be overwhelming. Another concern may be the timeliness or relevancy of the information. You need good tools to separate the important, well-timed information from the unreliable recon. For example, Equinox realizes that timeliness can be an issue with the shared Hot List and also acknowledges that not all shared numbers have the same value to all carriers. As a result, we recently introduced the Equinox Hot List. This new tool is not a replacement for the existing shared Hot List process of each carrier submitting and receiving Hot List numbers through Protector. The Equinox Hot List is designed to further augment the value of the information shared. For inclusion on the Equinox Hot List, a number must be submitted recently and by more than two carriers. These qualifiers ensure the information is currently relevant and significant to multiple fronts in the fight against fraud. You can obtain the new Equinox Hot List numbers via the Hot List share, as described in the upcoming Equinox webinar.
The battle against fraud is like urban warfare, where there is not a defined battle line or organized entity defined as “the enemy”. This truth makes recon and intelligence gathering exponentially important so you can apply your tools in the most effective manner at the height of battle. Protector helps on this front by providing access to expert knowledge through the sharing of the GSMA international toll fraud ranges along with CDR and Watch List tools to apply this data. This GSMA information is updated semi-annually when the new Fraud Forum High-Risk Ranges List is published, keeping this information timely and relevant.
Protector now also provides even more insight into known fraudulent activity and another level of recon via the PRISM database. This database contains all known test numbers harvested from PRN (international premium rate number) resellers originating from 220 countries. It is updated monthly and designed to specifically address IRSF. Supporting direct integration with this list, Protector lets you access it from within the system, including building rules around these watched numbers. As mentioned in a recent email blast, Equinox is currently offering a no-cost 30-day trial of this fraud-fighting tool.
Another key in the battle against fraud is to train the troops. Providing tools and strategies without the proper training is not effective nor advised. As with any battle, you need to constantly update the tools and techniques you are using. That’s exactly why we have made these recent changes to Protector—to give you the latest weapons in this battle. We also want to be sure you are BATTLE READY, which means staying current with how these tools can and should be used in the war against fraud. To facilitate that goal, we are hosting a Webinar on April 20, 2016 at 12:00 CDT.
During the “Effective Hot List Sharing” Webinar, Protector veteran and fraud expert Christi Vanoye gives you a tour of the Hot List, explains how the Equinox Hot List and PRISM features work, and includes instructions for effectively using all these valuable features. This webinar is offered at no cost to any Protector customer currently under maintenance but you must preregister to attend.
Finally, no soldier goes on the front-line without support of other troops. That is where the Equinox Customer Support Team comes into play. This group of soldiers is ready, willing, and able get in the trenches to keep your Protector system running and engaged in this battle. They are here to answer your questions and help keep your system timely and current with the newest features. Call or email them before the enemy surrounds you on the battle field!
About the Author: In his role as Vice President of Support for Equinox, Joe Herron oversees all of customer support, including quality assurance, product documentation, installation, upgrades, and the customer support help desk. His team’s primary task is working with customers on the day-to-day issues, for example scheduling product updates, turning up a new switch, fine-tuning a configuration setting, or helping troubleshoot a technical issue. When he’s not putting the processes and standards in place that ensure Equinox customer uniformly rave about the service they receive, he enjoys reading and spending time behind the wheel of his convertible.
To learn more about Equinox, its products, and staff, visit www.equinoxis.com or call (615) 612-1200.
