How I preserve my telephone protected towards stingrays (not that sort)

Abstract

Stingrays trick iPhones and Android gadgets alike into sharing delicate info, significantly your IMSI quantity, which can be utilized for identification and monitoring.
Android has elective protections like disabling 2G and blocking unencrypted communications, however assist is dependent upon the precise telephone you’ve, and which model of Android it is operating.
iPhones have fewer defenses towards stingrays until you allow Lockdown Mode.

It has been over a decade for the reason that begin of the Snowden leaks, which uncovered mass surveillance packages within the US. I point out this as a result of one of many smaller issues Snowden (and others) drew consideration to is the usage of “stingrays,” often known as IMSI catchers. Police, navy, and intelligence businesses have sometimes used these to intercept information on cellphone customers with out their data — and criminals could now be making use of the know-how as nicely.

All this makes it clever to be taught a bit of bit about how stingrays work, and how one can shield your iPhone or Android machine towards them, since nobody has an inherent proper to intercept your cellphone visitors and not using a warrant. What’s fascinating is that for the time being, Android 16 appears to supply a bonus on this space — although Apple will presumably catch up eventually.

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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 selected product — the StingRay, made by the Harris Company. It is rather a lot simpler to speak about stingrays than IMSI catchers, nonetheless, so the product turned a catch-all time period, a lot as some individuals confer with all facial tissues as Kleenex.

Functionally, stingrays trick your telephone 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 telephone’s IMSI (Worldwide Cellular Subscriber Id) quantity, which can be utilized to establish and monitor you. Stingrays can also be used to gather metadata, and in some instances, the precise content material of communications. Extra hardly ever, stingrays are used as offensive weapons, say to conduct denial of service (DoS) assaults.

Any mobile machine inside vary of a stingray is susceptible to connecting to it, so your information could also be snatched up even if you aren’t an supposed goal.

This may increasingly all sound like one thing your telephone ought to have the ability to defend towards, however stingrays can dupe your telephone into utilizing a protocol with weaker safety, as an illustration by quickly 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 isn’t dealt with correctly, it might grow to be an assault vector.

One of many terrifying issues about stingrays is that they are non-discriminatory. That’s, any mobile machine inside vary of a stingray is susceptible to connecting to it, so your information could also be snatched up even if you aren’t an supposed 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 clarify than I can probably go into right here, so I encourage you to be taught extra, significantly for those who’re planning to affix a politically delicate protest.

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Learn how to shield an Android machine towards stingrays

The most effective safety is reserved for the newest gadgets

An important factor is conserving Android up-to-date, and being conscious of its anti-stingray choices. If you happen to’ve bought Android 12 or later, you’ll be able to disable 2G connectivity fully by going to Settings -> Community & Web -> SIMs, selecting your SIM, then toggling off Permit 2G. Don’t be concerned — most telephone carriers have switched completely 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 no authentic cause to be utilizing unencrypted information anymore, given how harmful the web could 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 every time a community asks for distinctive machine identifiers, or forces weaker safety.

The one zero-risk choice, although, is to dam mobile exercise completely.

Android 16 features a Cellular community safety web page to centralize issues, which it’s best to have the ability to attain by way of Settings -> Safety & privateness -> Security Heart. There is a massive catch, nonetheless — it solely seems on gadgets with explicit 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 for those who personal one thing as current as a Pixel 9. You might have to attend in your subsequent telephone 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 state of affairs, there are apps that may doubtlessly warn you about stingrays, similar to SnoopSnitch. The one zero-risk choice, although, is to dam mobile exercise completely, and that applies to each iPhones and Android gadgets.

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Learn how to shield an iPhone towards stingrays

Time to play catch-up

Enabling Lockdown Mode on an iPhone. — Apple

Apple

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

If you happen to use that step, you might also wish to go to Settings -> Mobile -> Community Choice and disable Computerized, however be warned — this feature can create havoc. You might end up unable to roam home networks, and you will have to manually choose a service if you journey overseas. It is most likely not well worth the problem.

That is partly as a result of in iOS 16 or later, Apple presents a characteristic referred to as Lockdown Mode. This allows a large set of safety measures, principally supposed for journalists, dissidents, and others susceptible to being focused by authoritarian regimes or overseas governments. If you happen to’re really fearful about stingrays, although, Lockdown Mode forcibly disables 2G, and limits how your iPhone can work together with the skin world. It is so draconian that it’s best to keep away from it until completely needed — even many web sites and Messages attachments will not work.

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