SS7: Securing a Legacy Protocol in a Modern Threat Landscape, and How Information Sharing Can Help to Mitigate

Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) has been a cornerstone of global mobile communication for decades. Originally developed in the 1970s and standardised in the 1980s, it was built for a world where telecom networks were state-owned, access was tightly controlled, and trust among operators was assumed.

Security, in this context, was not a design priority. The SS7 signalling protocol, has critical vulnerabilities due to its outdated design: it lacks authentication and encryption, making it easier for attackers to intercept messages, track locations, and reroute calls or texts.