Signals

Mobile phone verification is still one of the largest and most deployed solutions for second-factor authentication. A significant amount of traffic on a single mobile network can be artificially generated, leading to increased costs, and, in some cases, fraudsters are distributing artificial traffic among brands to avoid brand detection.

Signals is a product that combats artificially generated traffic, known as SMS pumping fraud. It uses various methods to detect artificial traffic, such as analyzing the behavior of phone numbers, phone number ranges, and phone number types.

Some of the patterns Signals monitors:

• Number of received messages per phone number: if a specific phone number received more traffic than expected
• Number of received messages per phone number range
• Number of errors per phone number range: ranges with a lot of specific errors are considered suspicious

For each message sent, Signals calculates a risk score. The risk score is a number from 0 to 100. A score of 0 means the phone number is highly trusted and Signals detected no suspicious behavior. A score of 100 means the phone number is highly suspicious.

Signals automatically blocks destinations or ranges detected as high risk. Blocking is available at the account level with a predefined threshold. For CPaaS X, it is also available for individual applications and entities. Each destination stays blocked until its score drops below the defined threshold. Messages blocked by Signals are not charged and are not counted toward monthly volumes.

Infobip configures blocking thresholds based on your preferences. Thresholds can differ for each country or network, so you can choose a more aggressive or more conservative approach to fraud prevention. CPaaS X customers can also adjust blocking sensitivity themselves through the API. See Signals for CPaaS X.

The following diagram shows how Signals checks each message before Infobip sends it to the mobile network operator (MNO):

The following terms describe how Signals works:

• Blocking: SMS message delivery blocking to a destination that meets Signals score blocking thresholds (for example, each score above 90).
• Event: An anomaly detected with various analysis with individual contributions to the risk score. It can be positive (trust) or negative (risk).
• Risk score: A numeric representation of the risk associated with the destination number. Signals calculates it by summing all events.
• Interaction: Each attempt to send traffic toward a certain destination.
• Regular traffic: All interactions that were not detected as fraud (based on defined thresholds) and are charged.

LEARN MORE

Signals detects artificially inflated SMS traffic. To assess the fraud risk of a phone number in identity-level use cases, see Number Risk Score. These use cases include synthetic identity, account takeover, and referral fraud.

Features [#features]

Cutting-edge technology
Utilizes machine learning and adaptive learning algorithms to accurately detect and block artificial OTP traffic.

Automated protection
Provides automated protection against fraudulent activities, ensuring the integrity and reliability of OTP authentication.

Cost savings
Ensures payment only for legitimately requested OTP traffic and saves money by effectively blocking artificially generated SMS.

Protection per end customer
CPaaS X customers can enable Signals for specific applications and entities and configure protection for each one.

No integration required
Signals works within your existing Infobip messaging flows, with no development effort needed.

Adaptive solution
Flexibility to set blocking thresholds for individual countries or networks.