Number Authentication Mechanism, what is it for?

What effect does regulation have on industry players with regard to the Number Authentication Mechanism (NAM)?

20/12/2023

In response to the Naegelen law n° 2020-901 of July 24, 2020, operators must implement since July 25, 2023 the Number Authentication Mechanism (NAM) during their exchanges with customers.

Let’s see together what it consists of.

What is the Number Authentication Mechanism?
In practice, how can this technology be implemented in the daily lives of agents?
A dedicated solution to guarantee you compliance with the law and the maintenance of excellent productivity.

1. What is the Number Authentication Mechanism?

The NAM is a tool that reinforces consumer protection measures by succeeding two other recent pieces of legislation, namely the national numbering plan implemented by ARCEP since January 1, as well as the Decree Frequency-Timetables, governing telephone canvassing, in force since March 1.

We were talking to you about consumer protection. It is indeed common to see customers having their identity stolen when calling or sending a simple message, using their phone number. It is precisely in these cases that the NAM will act.

To achieve these objectives, the NAM requires in return that the operators apply several measures consistent with the law. Among these measures are:

Verification of the identity of the caller and his number: the operators must ensure that the users are indeed the holders of the numbers used, or that the latter have given their prior consent to their use. Note here that it is also necessary for your agents to certify the authenticity of the numbers assigned, in accordance with the ARCEP numbering plan.
The obligation to ensure the principle of interoperability: your agents must guarantee that the authentication mechanisms are in line with the technical standards shared between the different operators.
Interruption of the transmission of the call or the message: if your agents cannot verify the authenticity of the number, it is their duty to interrupt the transfer of communications.

However, France is not the first country to have thought about protecting its consumers. Indeed, the United States published on December 30, 2019 a similar piece of legislation, called the “ Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act ” or ” Pallone Thune TRACED Act ». It should be noted that the NAM and the TRACED Act differ on several points, however. Where the French law will be intransigent as we have seen with the interruption of a call or a message when they are not verified, the United States for their part show more flexibility and retain the possibility of picking up the call by informing the caller that his telephone number is not verifiable and may be subject to fraudulent use. Also, American law provides for an adaptation of the law for so-called aging technologies, like its French counterpart, which obliges all companies to respect these rules in force, regardless of their technical, human and financial means. If a French company is not properly equipped, this means that it would therefore be breaking the law.

2. In practice, how can this technology be implemented in the daily lives of agents?

Speaking of technology, on what elements is the NAM integration based?

The latter draws its strength from STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) technology. In the form of a set of protocols that authenticate calls, these measures make it possible to effectively combat identity theft and fraudulent use of numbers. Their integration into the telecommunications tools of customer relations centers is also essential within the framework of the Naegelen law, which imposes certain restrictions on call centers in terms of telephone prospecting.

Thanks to specific authentication (or security) keys, named A, B and C, the call can be defined according to its degree of authentication. Only letters A and B will be received by agents. C-authenticated calls will need to be intercepted.

Here are their meanings:

Level A – Complete certification: the operator certifies that the caller is authorized to use the number
Level B – Partial attestation: the operator certifies the origin of the call, but cannot verify if the caller is authorized to make calls from this number.
Level C – Gateway Attestation: The operator can only certify the point of reception of the call, but not the source.

3. A dedicated solution to ensure you comply with the law and maintain excellent productivity.

Applying these principles alone is not enough to maintain maximum compliance with the law and maintain productivity. The use of call center software is often necessary over the long term to make managing your contact center as easy as possible.

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