Lawful Interception Architecture

The lawful-interception architecture standardised by ETSI and 3GPP comprises three handover interfaces: HI1 for warrant administration, HI2 for intercept-related information (call records, location, signalling metadata), and HI3 for content of communication. Inside the operator network, Intercept Access Points capture traffic and forward to a Mediation Function that delivers via HI2/HI3 to the law-enforcement monitoring facility.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkSignalingThreats and Attacks

Lawful Interception Architecture 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.

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 Lawful Interception Architecture in the wider telecom-security picture, review Lawful Interception Abuse Risk, Revenue Assurance, Telecom Penetration Testing, Chain of Custody, O-RAN Interfaces (A1, E2, O1, O2) and Bidding-Down Attack — 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.