IRI (Intercept Related Information)

Also known as: Intercept-Related Information

Intercept Related Information is the metadata component of a lawful intercept: signalling events such as call setup, release, SMS submission, registration, location updates and session start/stop, together with target and correlation identifiers. IRI is delivered over the ETSI X2 interface and is produced whether or not Content of Communication is authorised.

Categories: Threats and AttacksProtocols and Standards

IRI in context

Telecom threats range from opportunistic SMS phishing and SIM swap to nation-state grade location tracking and lawful-interception abuse. The common thread is that most attacks exploit the inherited trust model of legacy signaling. SS7 and Diameter were designed for a closed operator community that no longer exists.

Telecom security is written into standards from 3GPP, GSMA, ETSI, IETF and ITU-T. Understanding which body owns which specification, and how the specs interlock (for example 3GPP TS 33.501 with GSMA FS.34 for 5G SBA security), is essential for both design and audit work.

To place IRI in the wider telecom-security picture, review ETSI TS 103 221, X2 (LI), X3 (LI), CC (LI), MDF2 and HI2.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Diameter Attacks S6a IDR/PUR/CLR abuse, subscriber tracking, LTE signaling attacks.
  • SMS Firewall SMS spam, phishing, A2P bypass and MAP-layer SMS filtering.
  • Signaling Firewall Unified SS7/Diameter/GTP/SMS signaling firewall framework.

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