History & Meaning

Know Your Customer (KYC)

What it Means

As it relates to telecom, KYC refers to the processes and policies used by a communications service provider to evaluate the identity and communication intent of its customer.

Where it Comes From

The term Know Your Customer originated in banking regulations, but many different industries now use KYC to describe the due diligence companies do to learn about their customers.

Pioneering KYC+EIM for Communications

Numeracle's stance on Know Your Customer hasn't wavered since day 1

The Need for KYC

Know Your Customer is one of the primary ways that a voice Service provider can avoid taking traffic that may get them in enforcement trouble. It’s simplistic, but a good KYC policy is whatever keeps bad traffic off your network.

“If you want to play in this particular industry, there is a responsibility that comes with it, just like being a doctor or being a lawyer.

There are certain fields in certain industries where there is a moral, and ethical responsibility, and think telecom is there now. We have to bring KYC into this industry.”
_‍_{— Rebekah Johnson, Founder & CEO, Numeracle}

Keep Reading

Entity Identity Management for KYC

At the core of the Know Your Customer process lies the identification of potential risks and red flags associated with onboarding and maintaining service to customers. Deploying an Entity Identity Management^TM platform has emerged as a practical and efficient tool for KYC.

From the first engagement with a prospective customer, an EIM platform can be utilized to efficiently collect, verify, and authenticate customer information, ensuring accurate risk evaluation prior to onboarding.

Learn More

Dirty Traffic, heavy fines

"Know Your Customer principles should be at the forefront of all communications service providers' business practices."

Carrying bad actor traffic due to poor Know Your Customer practices can result in heavy fines, investigations, and blocked traffic.

Company that allegedly sent billions of robocalls sued by 49 attorneys general

"A bipartisan coalition of 48 state attorneys general, plus the DC attorney general, sued Avid Telecom on Tuesday, alleging that the company is responsible for billions of illegal spam calls, including calls to the phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry."

FTC Sues to Stop VoIP Service Provider That Assisted and Facilitated Telemarketers in Sending Hundreds of Millions of Illegal Robocalls to Consumers Nationwide

“VoIP providers like XCast Labs that bury their heads in the sand when their customers use their services to break the law can expect to hear from the FTC.”

FCC ORDERS BLOCKING OF CALLS FROM GATEWAY
FACILITATOR OF ILLEGAL ROBOCALLS FROM OVERSEAS

FCC Issues First-Ever RoboBlocking Order Against One Eye

"The FCC ordered voice service providers to block and cease accepting traffic from international gateway provider One Eye. The robocall campaigns pertained to the impersonation of a major financial institution and claims of “preauthorized order[s]” placed in consumers’ names."

Numeracle Guides & Whitepapers

Demonstrating that KYC is Implementable

The good news is that you can implement Know Your Customer for your business or on behalf of those you represent, as long as you also define and uphold the mechanisms and processes you set out to meet KYC requirements. It's never too late to start, but it isn't enough to set it and forget it. Ensure you're conducting the necessary due diligence to follow your KYC procedures.

Model Standards for Know Your Customer

Implementation Framework & Guide

Our Know Your Customer (KYC) guide provides a framework for communications service providers and communicating end entities to consider when adopting internal standards for reasonable KYC review.

KYC Fundamentals for Communications Service Providers

Comprehensive Guide

This guide is intended to assist communications service providers (CSPs) in beginning the development of processes and procedures to know their customers and conduct meaningful customer due diligence. The information enclosed may be useful to anyone working in communications but is most specifically intended for those establishing or performing Know Your Customer (KYC) functions.

Call Record Review for KYC and Fraud Mitigation

Numeracle Whitepaper

This document attempts to outline how and when analysis of call records may be used as part of a KYC or fraud mitigation program to identify and mitigate high-volume call campaigns potentially seeking to defraud call recipients. Topics include call records, useful metrics to review when monitoring for potentially high-risk call traffic, how service providers can conduct further investigations in response to these metrics, and a general discussion of limitations and opportunities.

Numeracle's Call Record Review for KYC and Fraud Mitigation whitepaper cover

Thought Leadership & Resources

Thoughts from the SIP Forum KYC Summit

Numeracle leadership hosted an expert panel at the 2023 KYC Summit hosted by the SIP Forum to discuss the practicalities of deploying a KYC framework in telecommunications to bring purpose to the STIR/SHAKEN protocol.
Our key mission? To share how very doable, possible, and necessary it is to deploy a KYC framework within your organization to vet and verify the identities of each and every entity utilizing the network.

Webinar Playback

Bringing Purpose to STIR/SHAKEN Through Identity With KYC – A Recap

Numeracle hosted a discussion at the 2023 SIP Forum KYC Summit on the practicalities of deploying KYC. Here are the highlights!

Utilizing an Entity Identity Management™ Platform to Manage KYC for Service Providers

A Discussion with Seth Ray, VP of Operations at Bandwidth, Inc.

Security & Consumer Protection via Know Your Customer (KYC)

A Discussion with Patrick Crotty, Senior Assistant Attorney with the Florida AG Office in the Consumer Protection Division

Utilizing an Entity Identity Management™ Platform to Manage KYC for Service Providers

A Discussion with Seth Ray, VP of Operations at Bandwidth, Inc.

Utilizing an Entity Identity Management™ Platform to Manage KYC for Service Providers

A Discussion with Seth Ray, VP of Operations at Bandwidth, Inc.

Utilizing an Entity Identity Management™ Platform to Manage KYC for Service Providers

A Discussion with Seth Ray, VP of Operations at Bandwidth, Inc.