Location Tracking Attacks

Location tracking attacks abuse interconnect signalling to determine a subscriber's geographic location without consent. On SS7 they typically use MAP operations such as AnyTimeInterrogation, ProvideSubscriberInfo, or SendRoutingInfo-for-SM to retrieve cell IDs from the HLR/MSC; on Diameter they use equivalents on the S6a/S9 interfaces. Mitigations include SS7 and Diameter firewalls applying GSMA Category 1/2 filters, SMS Home Routing, and behaviour-based detection of impossible-velocity updates.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkCore NetworkSignaling

Location Tracking Attacks 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 Location Tracking Attacks in the wider telecom-security picture, review Diameter, LTE, Provide Subscriber Information (PSI), VLR, CSCF and TCAP: each entry cross-references back to this page so you can walk the topic in either direction.

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