Chain of Custody

In telecommunications, Chain of Custody is the documented trail proving who collected, handled, transferred, and analyzed a piece of evidence (signaling capture, log file, CDR extract, lawful interception product) and that it has not been altered. A defensible chain of custody is essential for fraud disputes, regulatory reporting, and lawful interception evidence.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkSignalingThreats and Attacks

Chain of Custody in context

The radio access network is the layer where mobile devices attach to the operator's infrastructure. Attacks in this layer include IMSI catching, rogue base stations, downgrade attacks and jamming, and defenses hinge on mutual authentication, integrity-protected signaling and Open RAN supply-chain hygiene.

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.

To place Chain of Custody in the wider telecom-security picture, review Lawful Interception Abuse Risk, Lawful Interception, Telecom Forensics, Lawful Intercept, CALEA and CC (LI).

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Diameter Attacks S6a IDR/PUR/CLR abuse, subscriber tracking, LTE signaling attacks.
  • SS7 Security SS7/MAP/CAP/SCCP attacks and defenses across 2G/3G interconnect.
  • Diameter Security 4G/LTE Diameter threats across IPX/roaming and DEA defenses.
  • Signaling Firewall Unified SS7/Diameter/GTP/SMS signaling firewall framework.

More from the TelcoSec Glossary

Browse the full TelcoSec Glossary, the Ultimate Guide to Mobile Network Security, or the P1 Arsenal of telecom-security tools.