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

Abstract

Stingrays trick iPhones and Android units alike into sharing delicate data, significantly your IMSI quantity, which can be utilized for identification and monitoring.
Android has non-obligatory protections like disabling 2G and blocking unencrypted communications, however help depends upon the precise cellphone you have got, and which model of Android it is working.
iPhones have fewer defenses in opposition to stingrays except you allow Lockdown Mode.

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,” often known as IMSI catchers. Police, navy, and intelligence businesses 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 nicely.

All this makes it smart to study a little bit bit about how stingrays work, and how one can defend your iPhone or Android machine in opposition to them, since nobody has an inherent proper to intercept your cellphone site visitors with no warrant. What’s attention-grabbing is that in the intervening time, Android 16 appears to supply a bonus on this space — although Apple will presumably catch up in the end.

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

Preying on hidden vulnerabilities

Unsplash

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 grew to become 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 attainable to extract delicate information, together with your cellphone’s IMSI (Worldwide Cellular Subscriber Id) quantity, which can be utilized to establish and monitor you. Stingrays might 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 liable to connecting to it, so your information could also be snatched up even once you aren’t an meant goal.

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, for example by quickly switching you from 5G to 2G, which most carriers have deserted. Usually, computerized hopping is an efficient factor — it retains you linked as you progress between areas with completely different protection. But when it is not dealt with correctly, it could 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 liable to connecting to it, so your information could also be snatched up even once 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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Learn how to defend an Android machine in opposition to stingrays

One of the best safety is reserved for the most recent units

Crucial factor is maintaining 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 fret — 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 sluggish 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 is no official motive to be utilizing unencrypted information anymore, given how harmful the web could be, so disabling null ciphers is an apparent manner 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 possibility, although, is to dam mobile exercise solely.

Android 16 features a Cellular community safety web page to centralize issues, which it is best to have the ability to attain through Settings -> Safety & privateness -> Security Heart. There is a large catch, nonetheless — it solely seems on units 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 might have to attend to 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 least. It is simply much less handy and safe than what the most recent and best Android 16 units 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 possibility, although, is to dam mobile exercise solely, and that applies to each iPhones and Android units.

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Learn how to defend an iPhone in opposition to 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’ll be able to, for instance, go to Settings -> Mobile -> Mobile Knowledge Choices -> Voice & Knowledge and select both 5G On or LTE. The 5G Auto possibility does enhance battery life, however will increase your possibilities 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 Automated, however be warned — this selection can create havoc. You might end up unable to roam home networks, and you will have to manually choose a service once you journey overseas. It is in all probability not definitely worth the problem.

That is partly as a result of in iOS 16 or later, Apple provides a function known as Lockdown Mode. This allows a large set of safety measures, principally meant for journalists, dissidents, and others liable to being focused by authoritarian regimes or international governments. If you happen to’re actually fearful 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 it is best to keep away from it except completely mandatory — even many web sites and Messages attachments will not work.

It isn’t 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, because the firm prides itself on safety and privateness.