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defense solutions for the modern SMS ecosystem

SMS messaging problem overview


SMS is a ubiquitous communication method for person-to-person (P2P) text messaging, which has been in use globally for nearly 20 years. While consumers have grown ever more dependent on text messaging as a preferred method of communication, service providers continue to suffer major financial losses due to rampant misuse within the Short Message Service (SMS) environment The telecommunications industry organization GSMA states that an average-sized mobile network of 16 million subscribers could easily experience revenue leakage in excess of $4 million per year from SMS-related fraud alone.

Today, SMS platforms are increasingly being used for illicit application-to-person (A2P) communication purposes, especially grey route messaging. Within the telecommunications industry, grey route messaging refers to A2P messages that originate outside of authorized networks, and illicitly infiltrate service provider networks by exploiting traffic channels designated specifically for P2P messages. For the average service provider, grey route messaging is extremely hard to identify and intercept, leading to immense revenue leakage. 

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