As we begin a new year, this is a good time to look back at everything we accomplished in the previous year. 2024 was a busy year for Hiya. It was likely a busy year for you too — so busy that you may have missed announcements of new products launched in 2024 and enhancements to our existing products.
In case you missed some of these announcements, below is a recap of our more significant accomplishments in 2024:
FOR PHONE CARRIERS
- Acquired deepfake voice detection company Loccus.ai – In an effort to combat the growing threat posed by audio deepfakes, Hiya acquired the industry leader in deepfake voice detection: Loccus.ai. The company’s technology can identify AI-generated voices with just 1.5 seconds of audio, alerting users to scams in real-time.
- Launched Hiya’s AI voice detection – Shortly after incorporating the Loccus team into Hiya, Hiya launched a new product to complement our call protection services: Hiya AI Voice Detection. This service helps both carriers and businesses detect artificially created voices, which can have devastating results for individuals and companies.
- Expanded Enterprise Caller Scoring – A common tactic of scammers and spammers is to use number rotation, where bad actors switch numbers to evade detection. Enterprise Caller Scoring fights back by connecting all the numbers used by an enterprise so the caller’s reputation follows them across numbers. Enterprise Caller Scoring now covers more than 280 million enterprise numbers in the US — a near-doubling of coverage since it first launched in early 2023.
- Helped BT stop 20+ million scam/spam attempts – Within its first four months of release, BT’s new scam protection service from Hiya, Enhanced Call Protect on Digital Voice, successfully blocked more than 20 million scam and spam attempts in the UK. This call protection service for landlines uses the phone display to warn of nuisance and fraud calls and gives 2.5 million BT Digital Voice customers an extra layer of defence.
- Partnered with Virgin Media O2 to fight spam – Another one of the UK’s largest telecommunications companies, Virgin Media O2, selected Hiya to provide its AI-powered spam-fighting and branded calling services to its mobile virtual network operators. Hiya will provide customers of Virgin Media O2 with an additional layer of fraud protection, which will run alongside its existing firewall technology that has prevented more than 89 million spam texts from reaching customers in 2023 alone.
- Released Chrome extension to detect deepfakes – Hiya released a new, free, Google Chrome extension that helps internet users identify deepfake audio. The web browser extension empowers consumers to identify fake content online by analyzing voices in real-time. Powered by Hiya Protect’s advanced AI voice technology, the new tool makes deepfake detection accessible to everyone, analyzing content across social media, news, or other websites.
FOR BUSINESSES
- Launched Hiya Connect Number Registration – Number Registration is the telecom industry's first global, free, SaaS-based phone number registration product. It allows companies to register their business numbers as legitimate to carriers that deliver their calls. When combined with customer-friendly calling practices, businesses registering their numbers with Hiya will reduce the risk of spam and nuisance labeling. The free service works in more than 40 major countries including the US, UK and Canada.
- Launched self-service pay-as-you-go purchasing for Branded Call – Hiya’s new pay-as-you-go pricing option allows businesses to purchase Branded Call directly from the Hiya website using a credit card. It empowers businesses making fewer than 5,000 monthly calls — including small and medium-sized enterprises, small office/home office businesses, and departments within larger organizations — to brand their calls without needing annual contracts or high monthly commitments.
- Introduced Performance Analytics for Branded Call – Automated answering technologies, like iOS 17’s Live Voicemail and Google Pixel Call Screen, show calls screened by voicemail as answered calls, artificially inflating call performance metrics. Hiya Connect’s Performance Analytics is the only solution on the market to provide truly accurate branded calling performance data, addressing the need for reliable ROI proof for branded calling investments.
- Recognized as a high performer in the prestigious G2 reports – Being recognized by G2 is one of the highest honors a software product can receive, because G2’s reports are based on positive reviews submitted by verified customers, with products ranked by customer satisfaction and market presence. This year, Hiya Connect Branded Call received numerous awards, including:
RESEARCH & REPORTS RELEASED
- Published the 2024 State of the Call Report – Hiya’s annual State of the Call Report is a global study of the trends shaping the voice-calling industry. Data in the report is based on a survey of more than 12,000 consumers, 1,800 workers who use the phone in their occupation, and 600 security and IT professionals. Respondents were based in the United Kingdom, the US, Canada, France, Germany, and Spain.
- Published two Global Call Threat Reports – Hiya’s Global Call Threat Report measures phone spam around the world. Data in the report includes the number of spam calls per person per month in 40+ countries, as well as the percentage of calls that are fraud vs. nuisance. The report also spotlights the top phone scams in seven key countries. You can download the two reports published in 2024 below.
Global Call Threat Report: First half of 2024
Global Call Threat Report: Q3 2024
- Released results of AI Deepfake survey – One of the newest (and most malicious) types of scam calls are those that use deepfake technology to clone the human voice. To gauge the prevalence of deepfake audio and video, Hiya commissioned a survey of 2,000 adults in the US and 2,000 adults in the UK. The survey revealed that 27% of US residents and 18% of UK residents had experienced an audio deepfake in the past 90 days — and the most common source was a personal phone call. Read additional results of Hiya’s AI Deepfake Survey.
If you would like more information on any of the products or services mentioned above, please contact us or learn more at Hiya.com.