In order to make your mobile phone ring when someone tries to reach you, the mobile networks needs to know where you are at all times. Passive collection of events offers new paradigm As it only leverages a fraction of all relevant information flowing through mobile networks, exploring complementary approaches is required to improve its efficiency. In summary, active geolocation presents undeniable benefits but also severe limitations. Active geolocation offers no option to leverage historical data to explore and detect suspicious behaviors. The whole system assumes that the targets (and their mobile number) are already identified and under investigation. Another blind spot: it’s not possible to track subscribers’ location based on their device identifier (IMEI). In real life, this architecture has not been deployed and thus operators cannot geolocate visitors on their networks. But such an option requires operators to establish bilateral interconnections between their geolocation equipments. In theory, standards allow geolocation of inbound roamers. In such cases, active queries will most probably fail to geolocate the subscribers. Another technique is to keep the phone switched off unless necessary. Second, because too many tracking requests would quickly overwhelm mobile network capacity.Ĭriminals are well aware of these capabilities and are used to frequently swapping their SIM card and mobile handset in order to evade any surveillance. First, because operational expenses are directly linked to the number of location queries. However, we also need to bear in mind the drawbacks of standard-based active geolocation:Īs each tracking requires additional network activity, the volume of geolocation tracking is limited. And the overall end results do not always meet the initial expectations (e.g: you can’t triangulate if the area is covered by only one cell for example). These options do imply a price increase given the need of further network equipments along with features to be activated. But this accuracy can be improved through radio-triangulation techniques (E-CID, A-GPS, OTDOA…). Their basic accuracy is a network cell, which ranges typically from 100 meters in dense urban areas to several kilometers in rural ones. They also offer several modus operandi, favouring either instant refresh of subscriber’s location or undetectability of the location retrieval. Most important one being the fact that they are entirely device-agnostic and unspoofable which in turns provides highly reliable information to act on. Such technologies present outstanding features. This approach is called active geolocation as it triggers specific activities on the network to retrieve a given subscriber location.Īs these technologies are standard, they have been widely leveraged by law enforcement forces namely: Upon request by legal authorities, mobile network teams use these techniques to track location of a list of identified suspects. These standards define dedicated signaling and processes in the different network nodes. Since their inception, subscriber geolocation is one of the many functions defined in Mobile Networks Standards, along with providing their core services such as call / SMS. Last, it illustrates examples of innovative security use cases that can be unlocked by such technologies. Then it addresses the interest of passive collection, an alternative technology, to complement these standards. To comply with increasing intelligence requirements, new investigation tools are required, leveraging the inherent benefits of big data technologies.įirst, this document highlights the possibilities and limitations offered by 3GPP standards on geolocation. Indeed, an ocean of data from several million individuals flows through these virtual pipes daily. In the era of big data, telecommunications networks constitute a strategic asset in the fight against current threats. And yet, only a fraction of mobile network potential has been exploited. Government agencies increasingly collaborate with private industries in the development of innovative technologies to better protect the populations, while taking into account local privacy regulations.įor decades, Mobile Network infrastructures have clearly been instrumental in lawful investigations. In a world of increasing threats, the preventive and responsive capabilities of national security bodies regarding manmade disasters are challenged daily.
Wireless network location data is an under‐used asset for national security.
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