Citizen Lab Exposes Two Global Telecom Surveillance Campaigns Exploiting SS7 and Diameter Protocols

Citizen Lab / Hacker News·medium signal

Citizen Lab published research documenting two surveillance campaigns that exploited 1970s-era SS7 and modern Diameter telecom protocols to track targets' physical locations worldwide. Vendors posed as legitimate carriers using Israeli, British, and Channel Islands telecom operators as entry points. One campaign sent hidden SMS commands to turn devices into 'covert tracking beacons.' At 155 points and 11 comments on HN, the research underscores that telecom infrastructure remains fundamentally unprotected.