1 New Features and Enhancements
The following topics describe new features and enhancements for Oracle® Communications Security Shield releases.
23.0.0.0.0 - February 2023
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the latest Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS ) release.
The following table describes the new features and enhancements in the OCSS 23.0.0.0.0 release.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Enhanced User Alerts Notifications |
The 23.0.0.0.0 release enhances notifications about threatening call activity by adding electronic messaging directly to subscribers by way of email, Slack, and PagerDuty services. The new Subscriptions sub-tab on the OCSS Notifications tab displays information about the subscribers configured to receive notifications when OCSS detects threat conditions. The Subscriptions sub-tab also displays the Create Subscription button to launch the configuration dialog, as well as filters for search operations. See "The Notifications Subscriptions Tab" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Additional Insights to Call Scores |
The 23.0.0.0.0 release adds more information about call scores to the analytical reports by providing greater explanation of the reason codes and call behaviors. To help you see the additional information, Oracle added
the new Call Insights attribute to the Total Calls Table canvas.
Call Insights provides the following information:
A privileged administrator can add the Call Insights attribute to an existing canvas. See "Policy Results Statistics Attributes" and "Policy Results Threats Attributes" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
22.2.0.0.0 - November 2022
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the latest Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS ) release.
The following table describes the new features and enhancements in the OCSS 22.2.0.0.0 release.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Enhanced Analytics Reports |
Oracle significantly enhanced the usability and focus of the OCSS analytics functionality. With one click of the new Analytics Reports button on the Dashboard, OCSS displays a single, new default Project (a collection of canvases) displaying commonly requested visualizations that provides real-time, interactive viewing capabilities. From the default Project, you can create customized Projects to which you add canvases and visualizations. You can export, duplicate, move, and save Projects. As before, you can export canvases, data, and images from the visualizations on the canvases. See the "Call Traffic Analytics" Appendix in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Access Control List Enhancement | Oracle enhanced the Access Control List functionality to
allow you to create policies based on calling number and called number.
For example, you might want block or redirect specific calling numbers
for specific destinations, such as company executives or to block
harassing callers from reaching specific agents.
Access Control Lists contain rules that you create for Calling and Called numbers. When you create a rule, you can specify the Calling Number, the Called Number, or both. You can add multiple numbers to a rule and you can specify ranges of numbers, the call direction, and the enforcement action. See "Add an Access Control List" and "Add a Rule to an Access Control List" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Manage Nonconforming Calling Numbers |
When a calling number does not conform to E.164 phone number conventions, even after normalization, OCSS provides you with ways to specify call treatment and reports threats from nonconforming calling numbers to the Threats by Count tile on the Dashboard. Nonconforming call management applies to both the Standard and Premium editions. See "How OCSS Manages Nonconforming Calling Numbers" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Enhanced Access Control List Processing |
OCSS processes Access Control Lists (ACL) independently from regular threat processing and an action taken due to an ACL match overrides decisions made due to threat analysis. Due to the override, previous versions of OCSS omitted threat processing of calls for which an ACL match was determined. As of the 22.2.0.0.0 release, calls that match an ACL rule will also be fully analyzed for threat status. The threat status will be reported as part of the OCSS Dashboard statistics and will be available in the analytics environment. OCSS reports both the ACL status and the threat status of the call, although the ACL decision still overrides. |
22.1.0.0.0 - August 2022
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the latest Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) release.
The following table describes the new features and enhancements in the OCSS 22.1.0.0.0 release.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Inbound Call Labeling | When an inbound call goes through OCSS, OCSS adds the P-OCSS-Call-Info
header to the SIP INVITE. The information in the header can help you
make more informed decisions about your network. For example, you might
want to route certain types of calls to a particular queue, or require
extra validation, or restrict the caller's options.
See "Inbound Call Labeling" in the OCSSC User's Guide. |
| Notifications Tab | The 22.1.0.0.0 release adds the Notifications tab to the
Web GUI. OCSS
displays notifications when certain call-related conditions occur that
might need your attention, for example, elevated risky call types and
other kinds of calls from bad actors. On the Notifications tab,
privileged users can view a watch list of notifications and configure
notifications settings.
See "The Notifications Tab" in the OCSSC User's Guide. |
| Enhanced Dashboard Update Behavior | Beginning with the 22.1.0.0.0 release, OCSS updates the Dashboard upon call initiation and other events rather than solely upon call termination. OCSS uses any available information upon call initiation and can update the Dashboard with new information as the call progresses. OCSS no longer restricts the display to reporting only about terminated calls. The result is better synchronization with the analytics reports, which report on calls when they arrive. |
| Emergency Number Treatment Description | When the Session Border Controller (SBC) receives a call with a calling number containing an emergency number (currently limited to 100, 108, 111, 112, 181, 911, and 999,) the SBC (SPL) will not invoke a query to OCSS. Emergency calls will proceed as normal. |
22.0.0.0.0 - May 2022
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the latest Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) release.
The following table describes the new features in the OCSS 22.0.0.0.0 release.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Support for Session Border Controller-to-Cloud High Availability | You can configure the Session Border Controller (SBC) to
distribute Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS)
traffic to as many as three Cloud Communication Service (CCS) instances
to provide continuity of service if one or more CCS instances stops
responding or loses connectivity to the cloud.
See "Support for SBC to Cloud High Availability" in the Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
| Subscription Suspension and Termination Process | If you do not renew your Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS) subscription before the scheduled end date, Oracle provides a phased continuation process that allows you more time to renew before hard termination. See "Subscription Usage" and "Subscription Suspension and Termination Phases" in the User's Guide. |
| Support for Inbound Phone Number Normalization | The Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS) uses the E.164 format for call validation from the Session Border Controller. Because OCSS may be used in environments that use number formats other than E.164, OCSS provides a way to normalize non-E.164 number format conventions to the E.164 convention. See "Inbound Phone Number Normalization" in the User's Guide. |
| Support for Creating Customized Analytics Reports | As a privileged user, you can create custom Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS) analytics
reports to display the type of data you want to see in the format you
want. You can create custom OCSS
analytics reports from call elements, filters, calculations, and formats
that you choose.
See "Create Customized Analytics Reports" in the User's Guide. |
21.3.0.0.0 - February 2022
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the latest Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) release.
The following table describes the new features in the OCSS 21.3.0.0.0 release.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| OCI Identity Domain Support | The 21.3.0.0.0 release supports the Oracle Cloud
Infrastructure (OCI) Identity Domain for new and existing customers.
Oracle will migrate existing customers seamlessly without service
impacts in the coming months.
See "OCI Identity Domain: What OCI Identity Domain Customers Need to Know" and "OCI Identity Domain: What Oracle IDCS Customers Need to Know" in the OCSS Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
| Updates to Reputation Score call classifications | The 21.3.0.0.0 release updates the classifications shown
in the Reputation Score Classification configuration and in the
Dashboard tiles for Autonomous Threat Protection, Call Classifications
and Top Targeted Enforcement Points.
|
21C - November 2021
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) 21C release.
The following table describes the new features in the OCSS 21C release.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Replace the Calling Number Identification | The 21C release adds support for specifying the phone
number you want displayed to the called party in calling line
identification.
See "Outbound Calling Line Identification Management" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Support for Oracle Communications Session Router | The 21C release supports the Oracle Communications
Session Router. The Oracle Communications Session Router works in
environments that use Oracle Session Border Controllers to integrate
withOCSS as well as
environments that do not use Oracle Session Border Controllers to
integrate with OCSS.
See the Session Border Controller Platform Preparation and Installation Guide if you use Oracle Communications Session Border Controllers. If not, see the documentation for the device that you use. |
| Disable Mid-Call Updates | The 21C release adds a way to enable or disable mid-call
updates by entering or omitting the WAN certificate and private key
paths in the Cloud Communication Service (CCS) activate.pl script.
See "Enable or Disable Mid-Call Updates" in the OCSS Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
| Updates to the CCS Configuration page on the Settings tab. | The 21C release adds the OCSS FQDN and IDCS FQDN elements
to the information provided on the CCS Configuration page on the
Settings tab.
See "Cloud Communication Service Configuration Settings" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Block calls that do not pass STIR validation. | The 21C release adds the Block Inbound Calls
that Fail STIR Validation parameter to the General
Settings configuration on the Autonomous Threat Protection settings tab.
When enabled, OCSS overrides the
reputation score enforcement action configuration for a call that does
not pass STIR verification and blocks the call.
See "Autonomous Threat Protection Settings" and "Edit General Settings" in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Session Plug-in Language (SPL) Show Commands | The 21C release adds a list of SPL show commands that you
can access through the Acme Command Line Interface (ACLI).
See "OCSS Sow Commands" in the OCSS Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
| The following functions that were present but not operational in the preceding release are now operational. | The 21C release supports the following operations:
See "The Outbound Call Validation Tab" chapter in the OCSS User's Guide. |
| Call Type Classifications update | The 21C release updates the Call Type Classifications for low-value, no-value, and other unwanted incoming calls for Premium Subscribers. Go to the Settings tab and click the Call Type Classifications link to see the classification types, descriptions, and configurable enforcement actions. Go to the Dashboard tab to see the Threats by Count tile, which displays the number of threats received per classification type per period of time. |
21B Update 1 - August 2021
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) 21B Update 1.
The following table describes the new features in the OCSS 21B Update 1.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Support for the Standard Subscription |
21B Update 1 adds support for the Standard OCSS subscription. See "OCSS Service Plans Comparison" in the User's Guide. |
| Mitigate Call Flooding |
OCSS can detect and mitigate call flooding by monitoring the inbound call rate per phone number and applying configurable enforcement actions when the rate exceeds the threshold you set. OCSS can detect call flooding caused by Telephony Denial of Service, Traffic Pumping, and Toll Fraud. See "Call Flooding Mitigation" in the User's Guide. |
| Create a List of Outbound Enterprise Calling Numbers |
The OCSS GUI displays the Outbound Call Validation tab and allows you to create a list of outbound enterprise phone numbers with configurable attributes. Note: OCSS does not support applying the functionality of call validation and attribute use to call traffic at this time.See "The Outbound Call Validation Tab" chapter in the User's Guide. |
| Number Lookup Tab | The Number Lookup tab provides a way to search for a phone number across all of your OCSS phone number lists. The resulting display shows every list and states whether or not the number is on the list. The search results show the settings for the number per type of list. See "The OCSS Number Lookup Tab" chapter in the User's Guide. |
| Block Calls with "Anonymous" in FROM |
OCSS adds support for blocking inbound calls that contain Anonymous in one or both of the FROM and P-Asserted Identity headers and one or both of the user name and host name parts. For example, suppose a fraudster removes the user identity and inserts anonymous@, private@, restricted@, user@example1.edu, null@ or other such entries in the FROM or the P-Asserted Identity (PAI) headers. The result makes the caller identification anonymous and unverifiable. You can block such calls. See "Edit General Settings" in the User's Guide. |
| Support for Multi-Factor Authentication | To make the Oracle® Communications Security Shield (OCSS) more secure, you can enable multi-factor authentication for user log on. See "Secure Access to OCSS with Multi-Factor Authentication" in the Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
21B Release - June 2021
The following information describes the new content and behavior delivered in the Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) 21B release.
New Features
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| New user groups to support least privileged access |
The 21B release adds a set of user groups to help you manage access to OCSS according to the least amount of privilege needed. The privileges of each group determine which tabs, links, and information the user can see and which actions the user can perform. See "User Groups and Privileges" in the Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
| Policy Decision Engine Relocation to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure |
The 21B release relocates the Policy Decision Engine (PDE) from an on-premises deployment to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). In the OCI, Oracle manages and maintains the PDE. Customers no longer need to install the PDE on premises. Oracle recommends that customers using a release prior to 21B, where the PDE is installed on-premises, uninstall the PDE to reduce the OCSS footprint on local resources. |
| Auto Refresh Rate for Dashboard Tiles |
The 21B release adds the Auto Refresh control to the Dashboard for setting the rate at which the tiles refresh. You can use the default refresh rate or choose one from the menu that displays when you click Auto Refresh. See "The Dashboard Tab" in the User's Guide. |
| Change in the SPL Plug-in Download Method |
The 21B release packages the SPL Plug-in with the Cloud Communication Service download. See "Download the OCSS Software" in the Installation and Maintenance Guide. |
| Call Rate Limiting for a TDoS Attack |
The 21B release adds call rate limiting as an enforcement method when the OCSS detects a Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) attack. You can specify the maximum rate of calls that you want the OCSS to allow as a way of mitigating a TDoS attack. When incoming calls exceed the specified call rate, the OCSS drops calls randomly such that the rate of calls allowed to traverse the SBC matches the configured Call Attempt Rate Limit that you set for the Network-wide TDoS and Overload Protection parameter in the Threat Vector Thresholds configuration. The 21B release removes call blocking as an available enforcement action for a TDoS attack. The remaining values are Allow and Rate Limit. See "Threat Vector Thresholds" in the User's Guide. |
Behavioral Changes
The following information describes behavioral changes to the OCSS service.
| Objects | Description |
|---|---|
| Threat Vector Thresholds parameters |
|
| Toll-Free Traffic Pumping | The 21B release does not support the Toll-Free Traffic Pumping parameter for fraudulent call volume mitigation. |
20B Update 3 - February 2021
The following information describes the new features and enhancements delivered in the Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) 20B - February 2021 update.
New Features
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Activity Logging |
OCSS adds a way to view user activity logs through the new Activity Log tab to help with troubleshooting and security audits. You can see activity such as configuration changes to access control lists, threshold parameters, and on-premises software components for periods of up to ninety days. The activity log supports search operations with various filters to help you find the logs you want to see, for example, Date Range, User, Category, and Action. The logs display the following information: Timestamp, User, Device, Category, Object ID, Action, and Activity Details. |
| No-value and low-value call detection for Premium Subscribers |
To help Premium Subscribers get a more accurate understanding of the risks to their call centers and to help them to continuously improve responses to risky and unwanted calls, OCSS replaced the former rather general Risky calls category with an expanded set of no-value and low-value Call Type Classifications. The no-value and low-value Call Type Classifications provided for Premium subscribers include Scam, Other Fraud, Robocall, Telemarketing, and Invalid-Spoofing Number. For each of the new Call Type Classifications, you can set one of the following actions that you want OCSS to apply to these calls through the new Call Type Classifications dialog on the Settings page: Block, Redirect, and Continue. By applying actions to the call classifications, you can use OCSS to shield your customer service agents and other employees from calls that waste time, harm productivity, and cause unwanted expenses. Premium subscribers can see data about Call Type Classifications activity on the OCSS Dashboard in the Threats by Count tile and in the Autonomous Threat Protection tile because the OCSS reputation scoring operations will also use these classifications when determining call reputation scores. |
| Simulate a Call Lookup | On the Access Control Lists tab, the All Numbers List page adds the Simulate Look up button. Use Simulate Lookup when you want to know how the Policy Decision Engine will enforce access control on a particular phone number on your list. OCSS can process the phone number through a call simulator and return the result, which shows the call direction, the enforcement action that the Policy Decision Engine will apply, and the name of the list that contains the phone number. In this way, you can see whether or not the enforcement action is what you want and you can adjust it, if needed.. |
20B Update 2 - October 2020
The following information describes the new features and enhancements delivered in the Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) 20B - October 2020 update.
New Features
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Access Control Lists | The 20B - October 2020 update replaces the
previous list management with the new Access Control Lists tab
and extends the functionality by allowing you to create, delete,
and rename your own lists. In prior versions, the access control
lists hard-coded the call direction and action for all numbers
on a list. The new list management allows you to apply any
direction or action to any number on any list. You can create up
to ten Access Control lists.
In the left pane of the Access Control Lists tab, the system displays the All Numbers List, which is a view of all of the phone numbers from all of your lists combined. The All Numbers view can make searching easier when you do not recall which list contains the number you want to find. From the view list, you can perform a simulated phone number lookup to see how the OCSS Policy Decision Engine will enforce access control on a specified phone number if it were used in a real call. See the "Access Control Lists" chapter in the User's Guide. |
Enhancements
| Enhancements | Description |
|---|---|
| Reputation Score Classifications |
The 20B - October 2020 update renames the call classifications and adds a unique set of call classifications for the Premium subscription level. The revisions also affect the Dashboard display. See "Standard Subscription Call Classifications" and "Premium Subscription Call Classifications" in the User's Guide. |
20B Update 1 - July 2020
The following information describes the new features and enhancements delivered in the Oracle® Communications Security Shield ( OCSS ) 20B - July 2020 update.
New Features
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Configuration Wizard | To help you set the initial configuration with
minimal effort, the OCSS
service provides a configuration Wizard. The Wizard asks you
questions and uses your answers to set various parameters for
managing and securing call traffic. You can use the Wizard for
the initial set up as well as for subsequent changes that you
want to make. After you run the Wizard you can customize the
settings through the Dashboard.
See "The OCSS Configuration Wizard" chapter in the User's Guide. |
Enhancements
| Enhancements | Description |
|---|---|
| Dashboard—Autonomous Threat Protection tile |
|
| Dashboard—Threats by Count tile | The Threats by Count tile on the Dashboard
displays the new Risky Calls category, which is a composite of
the High Risk, Suspicious, and Unclassified reputation scores.
The tile no longer displays the Low and Medium labels due to the
changes described in the following row in this table.
See "Threats by Count" in the User's Guide. |
| Dashboard—Call Classification tile |
See "Call Classifications" in the User's Guide. |
| Dashboard—Top Targeted Enforcement Points tile | The Top Targeted Enforcement Points tile on the
Dashboard adds the new Risky Calls category, which is a
composite of High Risk, Suspicious, and Unclassified calls. The
tile no longer displays the Low and Medium labels due to the
changes described in the preceding row in this table.
See "Top Targeted Enforcement Points" in the User's Guide. |
| Dashboard—Settings Page |
|