BGP Hijack (Border Gateway Protocol Hijack)

Also known as: Route Hijack, Prefix Hijack

A BGP hijack is a route-origination or path-manipulation attack in which an autonomous system announces IP prefixes it does not legitimately control, causing internet traffic to be redirected, blackholed or inspected. In telecom, BGP hijacks against IPX/GRX peering ranges, SEPP/DEA public IPs or NEF endpoints can enable interception of roaming and API traffic.

Categories: SignalingRoaming and InterconnectThreats and Attacks

BGP Hijack in context

Signaling protocols carry the control-plane instructions that set up calls, register subscribers, hand over sessions and route SMS. SS7, Diameter, GTP-C and SIP are the four dominant families, and interconnect exposure of any of them is treated by GSMA FS.11 / FS.19 / FS.20 as a top-tier telecom risk.

Roaming and interconnect are where two operators, often with an IPX or GRX carrier in between, exchange signaling and user-plane traffic. Trust boundaries here are the primary attack surface for location tracking, SMS interception and fraud, which is why GSMA now mandates SEPP with PRINS on 5G interconnect.

To place BGP Hijack in the wider telecom-security picture, review GRX, Global Title Abuse, NetFlow / IPFIX / sFlow, HNDL, BGP Hijacking and ISUP.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Roaming Security IPX/GRX interconnect risk, home-routed vs local-breakout, SEPP.
  • Diameter Security 4G/LTE Diameter threats across IPX/roaming and DEA defenses.
  • 5G Security 5G SBA, SEPP, SUCI, 5G-AKA, N32 and service-based interface security.
  • 5G NEF Security Network Exposure Function security in the 5G core.

More from the TelcoSec Glossary

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