We know how to protect our troops from telecom attacks. We’re just not doing it.

Iran is actively exploiting decades-old vulnerabilities in the SS7 signaling protocol to track and intercept communications of U.S. military personnel — a threat that has been well-understood since at least 2014 but remains largely unmitigated due to the legacy architecture of global telecom infrastructure. The root problem is a failure of vulnerability management at an industry and governmental scale: the risks are known, the attack techniques are documented, and yet structural inaction has left critical users exposed. This matters because individual operational security measures — such as using encrypted messaging apps — cannot fully protect against network-layer attacks that occur before data ever reaches the user's device. The gap between awareness and action represents a systemic failure that requires coordinated industry, legislative, and Department of Defense intervention, not just personal responsibility.