AdaptiveMobile, a global provider of mobile network security, announced at AfricaCom 2016 new research findings that show mobile operators in West Africa are the highest target for SS7 attacks in the continent.
The research, conducted by AdaptiveMobile’s Threat Intelligence Unit, analyses packets sent over a 4-month period and finds that 39% of all African operators attacked via SS7 were in West Africa.
Heightened awareness of vulnerabilities in the signalling protocols has driven an increase in demand for protection against a range of attacks, including location tracking and call interception. Previous analysis from AdaptiveMobile showed a number of malicious, sophisticated platforms operating throughout the continent. New research shows that 65% of all operators in this analysis were affected by location tracking attacks and 100% of operators were affected by subscriber harvesting attacks.
“Through our analysis of SS7 packets sent worldwide, we can see a regional breakdown of where attackers are targeting,” said Cathal Mc Daid, chief intelligence officer at AdaptiveMobile. “While West African operators are heavily targeted, North and East African operators are also affected with 42% of all operators attacked in this analysis located in these two regions. Unauthorised access to the SS7 network can cause significant financial and reputational damage to the operator community and their subscribers. This is a challenge African operators are working to combat so they can remain the trusted provider to their customers.”
AdaptiveMobile’s Signalling Protection secures the SS7 and LTE/Diameter networks using a combination of a carrier-grade signalling firewall, advanced analytics and intelligence from working with the nine of the top 10 operator groups.
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