How I maintain my cellphone protected in opposition to stingrays (not that sort)

It has been over a decade because the begin of the Snowden leaks, which uncovered mass surveillance applications within the US. I point out this as a result of one of many smaller issues Snowden (and others) drew consideration to is using “stingrays,” also called IMSI catchers. Police, army, and intelligence companies have often used these to intercept information on cellphone customers with out their information — and criminals could now be making use of the expertise as effectively.

All this makes it sensible to study a bit bit about how stingrays work, and how one can defend your iPhone or Android system in opposition to them, since nobody has an inherent proper to intercept your cellphone site visitors with out a warrant. What’s attention-grabbing is that in the meanwhile, Android 16 appears to supply a bonus on this space — although Apple will presumably catch up eventually.

What’s a stingray, and the way does it work?

Preying on hidden vulnerabilities

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The very first thing to level out is that legally talking, the time period “stingray” derives from a particular product — the StingRay, made by the Harris Company. It is so much simpler to speak about stingrays than IMSI catchers, nevertheless, so the product turned a catch-all time period, a lot as some individuals consult with all facial tissues as Kleenex.

Functionally, stingrays trick your cellphone into connecting to them by pretending to be a close-by mobile tower. As soon as that occurs, it is potential to extract delicate information, together with your cellphone’s IMSI (Worldwide Cellular Subscriber Id) quantity, which can be utilized to establish and observe you. Stingrays might also be used to gather metadata, and in some circumstances, the precise content material of communications. Extra hardly ever, stingrays are used as offensive weapons, say to conduct denial of service (DoS) assaults.

This may increasingly all sound like one thing your cellphone ought to have the ability to defend in opposition to, however stingrays can dupe your cellphone into utilizing a protocol with weaker safety, as an illustration by briefly switching you from 5G to 2G, which most carriers have deserted. Usually, computerized hopping is an effective factor — it retains you related as you progress between areas with completely different protection. But when it is not dealt with correctly, it will possibly develop into an assault vector.

One of many terrifying issues about stingrays is that they are non-discriminatory. That’s, any mobile system inside vary of a stingray is vulnerable to connecting to it, so your information could also be snatched up even while you aren’t an meant goal. This and different points have drawn the eye of scrutiny of teams just like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Digital Frontier Basis. There’s extra to elucidate than I can probably go into right here, so I encourage you to study extra, significantly in the event you’re planning to hitch a politically delicate protest.

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How one can defend an Android system in opposition to stingrays

One of the best safety is reserved for the newest gadgets

A very powerful factor is holding Android up-to-date, and being conscious of its anti-stingray choices. If you happen to’ve bought Android 12 or later, you possibly can disable 2G connectivity utterly by going to Settings -> Community & Web -> SIMs, selecting your SIM, then toggling off Permit 2G. Don’t be concerned — most cellphone carriers have switched solely to 4G and 5G, so you will not discover any calls, texts, or information interrupted. Certainly even 3G networks are being deprecated, since they’re too gradual to maintain up with the calls for of contemporary apps.

Android 14 expands this safety with an choice to dam “null ciphers,” i.e. unencrypted communications. There is not any official purpose to be utilizing unencrypted information anymore, given how harmful the web will be, so disabling null ciphers is an apparent means of mitigating the specter of stingray assaults. Android 15 takes yet one more step ahead, enabling a notification each time a community asks for distinctive system identifiers, or forces weaker safety.

Android 16 features a Cellular community safety web page to centralize issues, which you must have the ability to attain by way of Settings -> Safety & privateness -> Security Heart. There is a huge catch, nevertheless — it solely seems on gadgets with specific modems, and model 3.0 or later of Android’s IRadio {hardware} abstraction layer (HAL). You are unlikely to see the web page in any respect, even in the event you personal one thing as current as a Pixel 9. You will have to attend to your subsequent cellphone improve to check this out.

The excellent news right here is that many Android telephones ought to assist disabling 2G, a minimum of. It is simply much less handy and safe than what the newest and best Android 16 gadgets are able to.

If you happen to’re in a high-risk scenario, there are apps that may probably warn you about stingrays, reminiscent of SnoopSnitch. The one zero-risk choice, although, is to dam mobile exercise solely, and that applies to each iPhones and Android gadgets.

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How one can defend an iPhone in opposition to stingrays

Time to play catch-up

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iPhones are lagging behind in relation to stingray safety, however they are not defenseless. You possibly can, for instance, go to Settings -> Mobile -> Mobile Information Choices -> Voice & Information and select both 5G On or LTE. The 5G Auto choice does enhance battery life, however will increase your possibilities of being kicked all the way down to a much less safe community.

If you happen to use that step, you may additionally wish to go to Settings -> Mobile -> Community Choice and disable Automated, however be warned — this feature can create havoc. Chances are you’ll end up unable to roam home networks, and you will have to manually choose a service while you journey overseas. It is most likely not definitely worth the trouble.

That is partly as a result of in iOS 16 or later, Apple presents a characteristic known as Lockdown Mode. This permits a large set of safety measures, principally meant for journalists, dissidents, and others vulnerable to being focused by authoritarian regimes or international governments. If you happen to’re actually anxious about stingrays, although, Lockdown Mode forcibly disables 2G, and limits how your iPhone can work together with the surface world. It is so draconian that you must keep away from it until completely crucial — even many web sites and Messages attachments will not work.

It is not clear but whether or not iOS 26, coming fall 2025, will provide any enhancements to stingray safety. I am anticipating Apple to meet up with Android in some unspecified time in the future, nevertheless, because the firm prides itself on safety and privateness.

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