How I hold my cellphone 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 non-compulsory protections like disabling 2G and blocking unencrypted communications, however help is determined by the precise cellphone you have got, and which model of Android it is working.
iPhones have fewer defenses towards stingrays except you allow Lockdown Mode.

It has been over a decade because the 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,” also referred to as IMSI catchers. Police, army, and intelligence companies have often used these to intercept knowledge on cellphone customers with out their data — and criminals might now be making use of the expertise as properly.

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

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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 so much simpler to speak about stingrays than IMSI catchers, nonetheless, so the product turned a catch-all time period, a lot as some individuals seek advice from 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 doable to extract delicate knowledge, together with your cellphone’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 not often, stingrays are used as offensive weapons, say to conduct denial of service (DoS) assaults.

Any mobile system inside vary of a stingray is vulnerable to connecting to it, so your knowledge could also be snatched up even while you aren’t an meant goal.

This may increasingly all sound like one thing your cellphone ought to be capable to defend towards, however stingrays can dupe your cellphone into utilizing a protocol with weaker safety, as an example by briefly switching you from 5G to 2G, which most carriers have deserted. Usually, automated hopping is an efficient factor — it retains you linked as you progress between areas with totally different protection. But when it is not dealt with correctly, it might turn out to be 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 knowledge 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 clarify than I can probably go into right here, so I encourage you to study extra, significantly when you’re planning to affix a politically delicate protest.

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How you can defend an Android system towards stingrays

The perfect safety is reserved for the most recent gadgets

Crucial factor is maintaining Android up-to-date, and being conscious of its anti-stingray choices. For those who’ve received Android 12 or later, you possibly can disable 2G connectivity fully by going to Settings -> Community & Web -> SIMs, selecting your SIM, then toggling off Permit 2G. Don’t be concerned — most cellphone carriers have switched completely to 4G and 5G, so you will not discover any calls, texts, or knowledge 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 possibility to dam “null ciphers,” i.e. unencrypted communications. There isn’t any reliable purpose to be utilizing unencrypted knowledge anymore, given how harmful the web may be, so disabling null ciphers is an apparent manner of mitigating the specter of stingray assaults. Android 15 takes one more step ahead, enabling a notification every time a community asks for distinctive system identifiers, or forces weaker safety.

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

Android 16 features a Cellular community safety web page to centralize issues, which you must be capable to attain by way of Settings -> Safety & privateness -> Security Middle. There is a massive catch, nonetheless — 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 when you personal one thing as current as a Pixel 9. You will have to attend on your subsequent cellphone improve to check this out.

The excellent news right here is that many Android telephones ought to help disabling 2G, at the very least. It is simply much less handy and safe than what the most recent and best Android 16 gadgets are able to.

For those who’re in a high-risk scenario, there are apps that may doubtlessly warn you about stingrays, comparable to SnoopSnitch. The one zero-risk possibility, although, is to dam mobile exercise completely, and that applies to each iPhones and Android gadgets.

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How you can defend an iPhone towards stingrays

Time to play catch-up

Enabling Lockdown Mode on an iPhone. — Apple

Apple

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

For those who 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 while you journey overseas. It is in all probability not well worth the trouble.

That is partly as a result of in iOS 16 or later, Apple gives a characteristic referred to as Lockdown Mode. This allows a large set of safety measures, largely meant for journalists, dissidents, and others vulnerable to being focused by authoritarian regimes or international governments. For those who’re really 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 except completely vital — 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 sooner or later, nonetheless, because the firm prides itself on safety and privateness.