Critical

🎯 Telecom Capture & Blackout Lever

Telecom gateways and IXPs (internet exchange points) are centralized; competing armed authorities pressure operators to throttle or disable access. Blackouts obscure ground truth and conceal abuses.

National Gateways & IXPs
Backbone / Control Points
Risks: single points of failure; blanket metadata visibility; lawful-intercept misuse; coerced shutdown orders.
Mobile Operators & ISPs
Access Networks
Risks: physical seizure of facilities; routing manipulation; SIM blacklisting; selective region throttling.
Critical

📡 Signaling Weakness (SS7/Diameter) & Roaming Pressure

Legacy signaling layers enable location tracking and SMS interception; cross-border roaming and satellite backhaul introduce additional surfaces for coercion and disruption.

Roaming & Interconnect Edges
Cross-Border Links
Needs: signaling firewalls; anomaly detection; roaming-edge filtering; redacted incident statistics and corrective-action logs.
Moderate

📱 Cell-Site Simulators (IMSI-Catchers)

Urban checkpoints and conflict zones face elevated IMSI-catcher risk; bystander devices swept into dragnet collections without purge or remedy.

Tactical Units
SIGINT / Policing
Minimum guardrails: mission-scoped filters; automatic deletion of non-target data; post-incident reporting to independent monitors.
Critical

🗂️ Cross-Border Data-Broker & Adtech Exposure

Commercial telemetry (adtech/SDK data) enables targeting of aid corridors, journalists, diaspora organizers, and local civil society via foreign purchases or intermediaries.

SDK Telemetry & App Vendors
Commercial Data
Risks: geofencing of shelters and hospitals; doxing; identification of organizers and evac routes.
Broker/Reseller Chains
Aggregation & Onward Sale
Needs: embargoes on sensitive locations; public purchase logs for any government use; deletion audits; penalties for non-compliance.
Critical

📺 Platform Manipulation & Information Operations

Coordinated networks deploy cloned media fronts, harassment brigades, and cross-platform narrative laundering to distort incident reporting and humanitarian needs.

Major Platforms (regional + global)
Information Infrastructure
Needs: political-ad transparency; state-linked operation disclosures; crisis transparency reports; robust appeals and data portability.
Guardrails & Institutions

⚖️ Oversight Anchors (Domestic & External)

Given fragmented sovereignty, external counterweights matter: allied CERTs, regional telecom regulators, humanitarian coordination hubs, and courts with universal-jurisdiction hooks.

Telecom Regulators (Regional)
Interconnect & Roaming
Mandate signaling defenses and interconnect incident disclosures; coordinate roaming-edge filtering during crises.
CERT/ISAC Alliances
Cyber Defense
Share indicators; protect humanitarian comms; issue redacted advisories on observed abuses.

🕸️ Control & Influence Network (Illustrative)

Drag nodes to explore conceptual relationships. Operational specifics are intentionally omitted to minimize risk while maximizing systemic clarity.

Legend: ● Authorities ● Operators/Vendors ● Brokers ● Platforms ● Telecom/Programs

🔗 Key Relationships (Sudan)

Gateways/IXPs ↔ Shutdown Orders ↔ Operators

Core: centralized choke points enable nationwide throttling; require public logs, judicial review, and humanitarian exceptions.

Roaming/Backhaul ↔ Signaling Abuse

Core: SS7/Diameter defenses; third-party testing; redacted incident statistics for civic auditability.

SDK Telemetry ↔ Broker Chains ↔ Targeting

Flow: app data → aggregators → onward sales; counter with embargoes, purchase logs, deletion audits.

Platforms ↔ Coordinated Narratives

Core: political-ad libraries; state-linked operation disclosures; emergency transparency windows for crisis contexts.

📅 Signal-Power Evolution Timeline (Sudan)

2018–2019: Uprising & Network Disruptions

Protest waves meet intermittent shutdowns; telecom choke points become explicit levers of control.

2020–2021: Transitional Flux & Coup

Competing centers of authority pressure operators; lawful-intercept and data requests expand with limited oversight.

2023: Nationwide Conflict

Physical seizure of infrastructure; regional blackouts; targeting of journalists and aid corridors intensifies.

2024–2025: Cross-Border Spillover

Roaming edges and backhaul routes leveraged for surveillance/disruption; adtech data exploited for battlefield and civic targeting.

⚡ Immediate Stop-Gap Actions (Conflict-Aware)

Where domestic transparency is constrained, lean on interconnect policy, cross-border norms, and platform obligations to preserve life and truth.

📡 Interconnect & Roaming Defenses
  1. Mandate SS7/Diameter firewalls at interconnects; roaming-edge anomaly detection and filtering.
  2. Third-party testing with public (redacted) summaries; corrective-action logs with dates and scope.
🕯️ Blackout Transparency & Humanitarian Exemptions
  1. Public registry of shutdown orders (issuer, time, scope, legal basis); emergency carve-outs for hospitals, shelters, and humanitarian corridors.
  2. Time-bounded orders with mandatory independent review within 72 hours.
🗂️ Data-Broker Embargo & Audit
  1. Embargo sensitive-location datasets (hospitals, schools, places of worship, shelters, aid logistics).
  2. Government purchase logs with warrants or court-equivalent oversight; deletion audits and penalties.
📱 IMSI-Catcher Governance (Urban/Border)
  1. Authorization standards; mission-scoped filters; non-target purge attestations; monthly redacted statistics by province.
📺 Platform Governance & Crisis Windows
  1. Political-ad libraries; legal-request registries; crisis transparency reports; researcher access windows for conflict contexts.
  2. Appeals and portability protections for journalists, human-rights defenders, and medical workers.

📋 Implementation Toolkit (Model Cross-Border Policy)

Edit inline; then copy or download. Geared for regulators, carriers, platforms, and humanitarian coordination hubs interacting with Sudan.