Hackers Exploit SS7 and Diameter Protocols to Track Mobile Users Worldwide

Citizen Lab's "Bad Connection" report exposes long-running global surveillance campaigns that abuse core weaknesses in SS7 and Diameter telecom signaling to perform precise location tracking, call/SMS interception, and bypass two-factor authentication without compromising end-user devices. The research details techniques including spoofed operator identities, malicious SMS/SIM commands, and protocol-downgrade attacks that blend with legitimate roaming traffic across multiple countries, and recommends deploying unified signaling firewalls and coordinated global action to mitigate the systemic risk.