IGW (Internet Gateway)

An Internet Gateway is the network device or function that connects an internal network to the wider internet, performing routing, NAT, and often firewalling. In cloud architectures (AWS, GCP) Internet Gateway is a specific managed component of a virtual network; in telecom it commonly refers to the operator's edge router providing internet transit.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkSecurity ControlsCloud and Virtualization

IGW 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.

Security controls span signaling firewalls (SS7/Diameter/GTP screening), transport encryption (IPsec, TLS, PRINS), identity and access on OSS/BSS, and monitoring at both packet and log level. Controls are audited against GSMA FS.11/FS.19/FS.20/FS.36.

To place IGW in the wider telecom-security picture, review Fronthaul, WAN, ICMP, Inter-Network Function Authentication, RRH and NRF Poisoning: each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • SS7 Firewall GSMA FS.11 category 1/2/3 SS7 message screening at the STP edge.
  • Diameter Firewall GSMA FS.19 screening at the Diameter Edge Agent on S6a/S9/S13.
  • GTP Firewall GSMA FS.20 GTP-C/GTP-U screening on GRX/IPX borders.
  • 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.