SS7 Signaling Protocol ? Security

Abstract

In this era of mass surveillance and cybercrimes, numerous attacks are conducted by government agencies and evil hackers on mobile users. Recent report in the media revealed that one of the major government surveillance agencies is collecting bulk information from the mobile traffic. Yet another leaked report from Ukrainian communication regulators (NKRZ) and Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) disclosed that suspicious mobile network packets from one of the telecommunication partners from Russia was revealing location of mobile users and there were high chances that their voice calls were being intercepted. The attacks are serious because SS7, despite its age, remains the main signaling protocol in the mobile networks and will still long be required for interoperability and background compatibility in international roaming.