Validating telephone calls by verifying entity identities using blockchains

1. A telecommunication system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including instructions executable by the processor to cause the processor to:

receive a communication from another telecommunication system, the communication being associated with a caller requesting to make a telephone call to a recipient using a caller telephone number; and

extract a unique identifier and the caller telephone number from the communication;

access a distributed ledger indicating relationships between telephone numbers and unique identifiers assigned to the telephone numbers; and

verify the telephone call by determining if the unique identifier is correlated to the caller telephone number in the distributed ledger.

2. The telecommunication system of claim 1 , wherein the distributed ledger is a blockchain configured to be distributed across a plurality of computing nodes in a plurality of telecommunication systems.

3. The telecommunication system of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunication system is further configured to:

determine that the caller telephone number is correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger; and

authorize the telephone call in response to determining that the caller telephone number is correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger.

4. The telecommunication system of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunication system is further configured to:

determine that the caller telephone number is not correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger; and

block the telephone call in response to determining that the caller telephone number is not correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger.

5. The telecommunication system of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunication system is further configured to:

determine a behavior descriptor associated with the caller telephone number; and

block the telephone call based on the behavior descriptor.

6. The telecommunication system of claim 5 , wherein the distributed ledger is a first distributed ledger, and wherein the telecommunication system is configured to determine the behavior descriptor by accessing a second distributed ledger that is separate from the first distributed ledger, the second distributed ledger being configured to store associations between behavior descriptors and the telephone numbers.

7. The telecommunication system of claim 6 , wherein the second distributed ledger is a blockchain configured to be distributed across a plurality of computing nodes in a plurality of telecommunication systems.

8. The telecommunication system of claim 1 , wherein each entry in the distributed ledger includes (i) a respective telephone number (ii) a respective unique identifier assigned to the respective telephone number, and (iii) a respective attribute associated with the respective telephone number, the respective attribute being different from the respective telephone number and the respective unique identifier.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, by a telecommunication system, a communication from another telecommunication system, the communication being associated with a caller requesting to make a telephone call to a recipient using a caller telephone number; and

extracting, by the telecommunication system, a unique identifier and the caller telephone number from the communication;

accessing, by the telecommunication system, a distributed ledger indicating relationships between telephone numbers and unique identifiers assigned to the telephone numbers; and

verifying, by the telecommunication system, the telephone call by determining if the unique identifier is correlated to the caller telephone number in the distributed ledger.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the distributed ledger is a blockchain configured to be distributed across a plurality of computing nodes in a plurality of telecommunication systems.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining, by the telecommunication system, that the caller telephone number is correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger; and

authorizing, by the telecommunication system, the telephone call in response to determining that the caller telephone number is correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining, by the telecommunication system, that the caller telephone number is not correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger; and

blocking, by the telecommunication system, the telephone call in response to determining that the caller telephone number is not correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining, by the telecommunication system, a behavior descriptor associated with the caller telephone number; and

blocking, by the telecommunication system, the telephone call based on the behavior descriptor.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the distributed ledger is a first distributed ledger, and further comprising determining the behavior descriptor by accessing a second distributed ledger that is separate from the first distributed ledger, the second distributed ledger comprising behavior descriptors associated with the telephone numbers.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second distributed ledger is a blockchain configured to be distributed across a plurality of computing nodes in a plurality of telecommunication systems.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein each entry in the distributed ledger includes (i) a respective telephone number (ii) a respective unique identifier assigned to the respective telephone number, and (iii) a respective attribute associated with the respective telephone number, the respective attribute being different from the respective telephone number and the respective unique identifier.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program code that is executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

receive a communication from telecommunication system, the communication being associated with a caller requesting to make a telephone call to a recipient using a caller telephone number; and

extract a unique identifier and the caller telephone number from the communication;

access a distributed ledger indicating relationships between telephone numbers and unique identifiers assigned to the telephone numbers; and

verify the telephone call by determining if the unique identifier is correlated to the caller telephone number in the distributed ledger.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to:

determine that the caller telephone number is correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger; and

authorize the telephone call in response to determining that the caller telephone number is correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to:

determine that the caller telephone number is not correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger; and

block the telephone call in response to determining that the caller telephone number is not correlated to the unique identifier in the distributed ledger.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor to cause the processor to:

determine a behavior descriptor associated with the caller telephone number; and

block the telephone call based on the behavior descriptor.