Confidentiality

Confidentiality, one of the three pillars of the CIA security triad, is the property that information is disclosed only to parties authorised to see it. In telecom it is delivered by air-interface ciphering (EEA/NEA), TLS/IPsec on transport links, SUCI for identity protection in 5G, mTLS in the SBA, and database/disk encryption at rest in core systems.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkCore NetworkIdentity and Subscriber

Confidentiality in context

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

The mobile core carries subscriber sessions, mobility and policy. In 4G it is the EPC (MME, HSS, S/PGW); in 5G it is the Service-Based Architecture with AMF, SMF, UPF, AUSF, UDM and the NRF.

To place Confidentiality in the wider telecom-security picture, review Encryption, FDD, MNO, TMSI, UPF and VRAN — each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

Related terms

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.