Sender ID Registry mandatory for businesses using sender IDs

In a news release on Monday, IMDA said that merchants and organisations that use SMS sender IDs may soon have to join the SMS Sender ID Registry SSIR under a new proposal by the Infocomm Media Development Authority IMDA.

After a transition period starts in October, registration would be required at the end of the year.

In order to make SSIR registration mandatory for organisations that use sender IDs easier to use, we intend to make SSIR registration a requirement, according to IMDA.

Only registered sender IDs will be allowed. All other non-registered Sender IDs will be blocked as a default. The registry was first piloted in August 2021, and in March this year IMDA set up the SSIR in response to a surge in SMS related scams.

SMSes that make use of IDs registered in the SSIR have been blocked upfront.

Since its launch, over 120 public and private sector organisations have joined the SSIR, IMDA said.

The number of reported SMS scam cases has declined threefold since SSIR's launch, compared to the three months before. Registration is currently voluntary, meaning that the public can still receive spoofed text messages from sender IDs that are not logged in the registry.

Merchants and organisations that use SMS sender IDs will have to register with the SSIR using their Unique Identity Numbers UENs Aggregators who intend to handle text messages with sender IDs to be required to participate in the SSIR and verify merchant and organisation sign-ups through their UENs, IMDA said.