Telecom Forensics

In telecommunications, Telecom Forensics is the collection, preservation, and analysis of evidence from signaling captures (SS7, Diameter, GTP, SBA), CDRs, OAM logs, and NF state in support of incident investigation, fraud cases, or lawful proceedings. It requires telecom-specific tooling capable of decoding TCAP, MAP, Diameter AVPs, and HTTP/2 service operations.

Categories: Core NetworkSignalingThreats and Attacks

Telecom Forensics in context

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.

Signaling protocols carry the control-plane instructions that set up calls, register subscribers, hand over sessions 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 FS.11 / FS.19 / FS.20 as a top-tier telecom risk.

To place Telecom Forensics in the wider telecom-security picture, review Vulnerability Assessment, Threat Hunting (Telecom), NTA, Telecom SIEM, Risk Assessment and Telecom Reconnaissance.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • SS7 Security SS7/MAP/CAP/SCCP attacks and defenses across 2G/3G interconnect.
  • Signaling Firewall Unified SS7/Diameter/GTP/SMS signaling firewall framework.
  • SS7 Firewall GSMA FS.11 category 1/2/3 SS7 message screening at the STP edge.
  • Diameter Attacks S6a IDR/PUR/CLR abuse, subscriber tracking, LTE signaling attacks.

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.