Lateral Movement (Telecom)

In telecom networks, Lateral Movement is the post-compromise progression of an attacker across systems, for example from an exposed OAM jump host to network function management interfaces, from there to signaling nodes, and then to roaming-facing perimeters. East-west segmentation, PAM, and detection of unusual NF-to-NF or OAM-to-NF flows limit lateral movement.

Categories: Core NetworkSignalingRoaming and Interconnect

Lateral Movement (Telecom) in context

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.

Signaling protocols carry the control-plane messages that set up calls, register subscribers and route SMS. SS7, Diameter, GTP-C and SIP are the four dominant families, and interconnect exposure of any of them is treated by GSMA as top-tier telecom risk.

To place Lateral Movement (Telecom) in the wider telecom-security picture, review Defense in Depth, GTP-U Smuggling, FS.21, SEPP, Pentest and Red Team Exercise: each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

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