ISP (Internet Service Provider)

An Internet Service Provider sells internet access to residential, business, or wholesale customers. Telecom carriers are typically also ISPs, often the dominant ones in their market. ISP-specific security responsibilities include anti-spoofing (BCP 38), abuse handling, DDoS mitigation upstream of customers, and DNS hygiene.

Categories: Threats and AttacksInternet and Routing

ISP 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 networks depend on Internet-style routing (BGP, DNS, MPLS) for interconnect, transport and application delivery. Route hijacks and DNS abuse can degrade or intercept signaling as easily as any application-layer attack, which is why RPKI and DNSSEC are now standard hardening for carrier networks.

To place ISP in the wider telecom-security picture, review IoT, BGP Hijacking, CALEA, CSIRT, ASN and BGP.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Diameter Attacks S6a IDR/PUR/CLR abuse, subscriber tracking, LTE signaling attacks.

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.