Introduction
The Outbound Shield blacklist can be used to monitor outbound calls going to destination numbers previously associated with toll fraud events. The Outbound Shield blacklist is maintained by TransNexus and updated hourly. The Outbound Shield Policies allow for granular control over when a lookup in the Outbound Shield database should be performed and what action should be performed for an invalid or high risk number.
Setup
A lookup against the Outbound Shield blacklist is disabled unless a policy exists that explicitly enables it. The lookup can be enabled for all calls by creating a policy with a blank calling number and enabled status. The lookup can also be enabled for individual numbers or ranges by specifying a full number or a prefix.
The invalid and high risk action fields define what action should be taken if the called number is flagged for either case. Options include the ability to block the call, divert the call to the diversion device, or only report the status in the SIP message record.
The custom whitelist/blacklist is analyzed before the Outbound Shield blacklist. Therefore, calls whitelisted, blacklisted, or diverted by the custom lists will not have any Outbound Shield lookup performed and thus will not be billed for Outbound Shield lookups. The Inbound Shield lookup is performed before the Outbound Shield lookup. This means that calls whitelisted, blacklisted, or diverted by the Inbound Shield blacklist will not have the Outbound Shield lookup performed and will not be billed for an Outbound Shield lookup.
Reporting
Calls flagged by the Outbound Shield blacklist can be viewed in the SIP Messages and SIP Reports. In the SIP Messages page, you can manually enable columns for Invalid Called Number, High Risk Called Number, and Outbound Shield by clicking on the Columns button and searching for the relevant columns.
The Outbound Shield field indicates whether an Outbound Shield lookup was performed for the call. Calls with this field set to Yes will be billed for the Outbound Shield lookup.
The Invalid Called Number field indicates whether the called number was found to be invalid if an Outbound Shield lookup was performed.
The High Risk Called Number field indicates whether the called number was found to be high risk if an Outbound Shield lookup was performed.