Lawful interception (LI) enables authorized entities to monitor and intercept electronic communications when necessary for legitimate reasons. It has become a critical tool for law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and government services worldwide, revolutionizing the investigation and prosecution of criminal and terrorist activities.
In this article, we explore the mechanisms, requirements, and significance of lawful interception activities, highlighting their indispensable role in modern policing and intelligence operations.
Intelligence Gathering by LEAs
An essential tool used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to fight serious crimes – such as terrorism, child abuse or organized crime – is the analysis of the suspects' communications.
Law enforcement agencies in nearly all countries intercept the communications data of suspected criminals in relation to serious crimes. Under the provision of a warrant, service providers and network operators are required to hand over communications data to the intelligence services and law enforcement agencies. So-called monitoring centers are then used by LEA’s to receive, store and forensically analyze this telecommunications data.
The analysis of the intercepted data provides cyber law enforcement agencies with general intelligence regarding suspects’ organization and relationships, as well as specific information and evidence about planned or already committed criminal acts.
Quality Requirements for Lawful Interception and Intercepted Data
To ensure effective communications intelligence gathering, lawful interception and monitoring software must meet high technical standards.
LEAs have specific requirements for intercepted data to maintain both integrity and privacy:
- Complete and unchanged data: an unaltered copy of the original communications must be generated.
- Secure real-time delivery: data must be delivered in real-time to the LEA's monitoring centers.
- Separate data streams: delivery of content of communication (CC) and communications metadata (Interception Related Information – IRI).
- Plaintext delivery: data encrypted by the network of the provider must be delivered in plaintext.
- Privacy assurance: only the targeted data should be intercepted and delivered; the data privacy of other subscribers must be guaranteed.
In addition to these data-centric requirements, lawful interception solutions must also meet the following technical criteria:
- Real-time Interception: data must be intercepted in real-time in complex networks, possibly even on network routes that change during one session.
- Transparency: the whole process must be transparent (undetectable) by the intercepted user.
- Secure storage: data must be stored securely on the LEA's premises.
- Analysis Capabilities: The Monitoring Center must provide the analysis functionalities required by the specific Law Enforcement Agencies.
Lawful Interception Systems and Mediation Devices
Mediation devices within a lawful interception system perform at the telecommunication service providers premise all tasks related to the delivery of intercepted communications to the LEA monitoring center. They ensure that the requested data is sent only to the monitoring center of the authorized agency. Mediation encompasses the conversion and mapping of intercepted data received from the internal network to the appropriate formats, protocols and interfaces as required by intelligence services and the police.
Monitoring Centers
Intercepted communications data is transferred to intelligence services, police and other LEAs via standardized interfaces such as ETSI, 3GPP or ANSI. In their monitoring centers, the data is further processed in order to support investigative work. Monitoring centers enable LEAs to analyze the intercepted data according to their needs. For example, data is correlated to detect otherwise unknown relationships or is transformed into visual charts that illustrate specific behavior patterns of the targets or show their location and movements on a map.
Due to the ever increasing amount of communications data and the globally connected telecommunications services, the analysis of intercepted telecommunications data is an unsurpassed source of intelligence for LEAs. For this reason, lawful interception systems play a significant role in the work of police, intelligence services and other law enforcement agencies.
Lawful interception is nowadays an essential tool in the fight against organized crime.
Adapting Law Enforcement to 5G
LEAs must constantly adapt to evolving technologies and update their methods and tools to ensure legally compliant monitoring. A recent example is the transition to 5G standalone (SA) networks, which presents new challenges for law enforcement agencies, particularly in terms of surveillance and tracking technologies. In 5G SA networks, traditional IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) catchers, which have been widely used to intercept mobile communications, are becoming ineffective. This is due to enhanced encryption and privacy features in 5G, such as the use of SUPI (Subscription Permanent Identifier), which is encrypted to protect user identities.
As a result, LEAs now need to adapt their methods by using "SUPI catchers" designed to associate the encrypted SUPI with the corresponding mobile subscriber. However, this approach is technically more complex and requires more sophisticated equipment and expertise, posing significant challenges for LEAs in maintaining the ability to monitor and intercept communications. This shift underscores the need for continuous updates in legal frameworks and technology capabilities to address emerging security and privacy challenges in the era of 5G.
Learn how Utimaco’s 5G ID Associator enables trustful and compliant ID association in 5G networks.
Conclusion
Lawful interception is a vital tool for LEAs, enabling the monitoring and analysis of electronic communications to combat serious crime and ensure national security. Utimaco understands that LI management is not simply about purchasing hardware and software. It is also about meeting national regulatory requirements and keeping up with technical developments.
Our customized professional services and experienced technical support staff help you to comply with telecommunication laws while minimizing the costs and efforts of installation and operation, now and in the future. Contact us for more details.
