Jamming

Jamming is the deliberate transmission of radio signals to disrupt legitimate wireless communications, ranging from low-power consumer devices to high-power military systems. It can target GPS, cellular, Wi-Fi, or specific bands, and is illegal in most jurisdictions. Anti-jamming techniques include frequency hopping, spread spectrum, beamforming, and signal-processing-based interference cancellation.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkCore NetworkThreats and Attacks

Jamming 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 Jamming in the wider telecom-security picture, review AMPS, Backhaul, BTS, Open RAN, RAN and Slice Hopping — 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.