HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)

HTTP Live Streaming is an adaptive bitrate streaming protocol (RFC 8216) that delivers media as a series of small files referenced by an M3U8 playlist. HLS is the dominant streaming format on iOS and is widely used by broadcasters, OTT services, and mobile operators. HLS over HTTPS provides confidentiality and integrity of both the playlist and the segments.

Categories: Threats and AttacksProtocols and Standards

HLS in context

Telecom threats range from opportunistic SMS phishing and SIM swap to nation-state grade location tracking. The common thread is that most attacks exploit the inherited trust model of legacy signaling protocols.

Telecom security is written into standards from 3GPP, GSMA, ETSI, IETF and ITU-T. Understanding which body owns which specification, and how they interlock, is essential for both design and audit work.

To place HLS in the wider telecom-security picture, review Attack Surface Mapping, BGP, Cipher Downgrade Attack, DDoS, Denial of Service (DoS) and ETSI — each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

Related terms

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