SMS Spoofing (Interconnect)

SMS spoofing on interconnect refers to messages that arrive at an operator's SMSC with a forged originator address, allowing fraudsters to impersonate banks, governments, or trusted brands for phishing or fraud. It exploits weak validation between SMS aggregators and the SS7/SMPP interconnect, where the originating address is treated as untrusted information. SMS firewalls, sender-ID registries, and SMS Home Routing reduce exposure, alongside emerging RCS Business Messaging with verified senders.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkCore NetworkSignaling

SMS Spoofing (Interconnect) in context

The radio access network is the layer where mobile devices attach to the operator's infrastructure. Attacks in this layer include IMSI catching, rogue base stations, downgrade attacks and jamming, and defenses hinge on mutual authentication, integrity-protected signaling and Open RAN supply-chain hygiene.

The mobile core is where subscriber sessions, mobility and policy live. 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. Core exposure is the difference between a single-subscriber leak and a fleet-wide breach.

To place SMS Spoofing (Interconnect) in the wider telecom-security picture, review Provide Subscriber Information (PSI), SC, Service-Based Architecture (SBA) Security, S1AP, N3 and IMS.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Signaling Firewall Unified SS7/Diameter/GTP/SMS signaling firewall framework.
  • SMS Firewall SMS spam, phishing, A2P bypass and MAP-layer SMS filtering.
  • SS7 Firewall GSMA FS.11 category 1/2/3 SS7 message screening at the STP edge.
  • SS7 Security SS7/MAP/CAP/SCCP attacks and defenses across 2G/3G interconnect.

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