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

Abstract

Stingrays trick iPhones and Android units alike into sharing delicate info, notably your IMSI quantity, which can be utilized for identification and monitoring.
Android has non-obligatory protections like disabling 2G and blocking unencrypted communications, however assist is determined by the precise telephone you could have, and which model of Android it is operating.
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 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 businesses have sometimes used these to intercept knowledge on cellphone customers with out their data — and criminals could now be making use of the expertise as nicely.

All this makes it smart to be taught a bit of 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 visitors and not using a warrant. What’s attention-grabbing is that in the mean time, 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 loads simpler to speak about stingrays than IMSI catchers, nevertheless, so the product grew to become a catch-all time period, a lot as some individuals consult 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 knowledge, together with your telephone’s IMSI (Worldwide Cell Subscriber Id) quantity, which can be utilized to determine and observe you. Stingrays might also be used to gather metadata, and in some circumstances, 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 if you aren’t an meant goal.

This may occasionally 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, automated hopping is an efficient factor — it retains you linked as you progress between areas with totally different protection. But when it isn’t dealt with correctly, it may well change 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 knowledge could also be snatched up even if 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 be taught extra, notably in case you’re planning to affix a politically delicate protest.

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Tips on how to defend an Android system towards stingrays

The most effective safety is reserved for the most recent units

Crucial factor is holding Android up-to-date, and being conscious of its anti-stingray choices. If you happen to’ve acquired Android 12 or later, you may disable 2G connectivity fully by going to Settings -> Community & Web -> SIMs, selecting your SIM, then toggling off Enable 2G. Don’t fret — most telephone carriers have switched solely 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 sluggish to maintain up with the calls for of recent apps.

Android 14 expands this safety with an choice to dam “null ciphers,” i.e. unencrypted communications. There is no reliable cause to be utilizing unencrypted knowledge anymore, given how harmful the web may be, so disabling null ciphers is an apparent method of mitigating the specter of stingray assaults. Android 15 takes yet one more step ahead, enabling a notification at any time when a community asks for distinctive system identifiers, or forces weaker safety.

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

Android 16 features a Cell community safety web page to centralize issues, which you must have the ability to attain through Settings -> Safety & privateness -> Security Heart. There is a huge catch, nevertheless — it solely seems on units 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 in case you personal one thing as current as a Pixel 9. You could have to attend on your subsequent telephone improve to check this out.

The excellent news right here is that many Android telephones ought to assist disabling 2G, no less than. 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 scenario, there are apps that may doubtlessly warn you about stingrays, similar to SnoopSnitch. The one zero-risk choice, although, is to dam mobile exercise solely, and that applies to each iPhones and Android units.

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Tips on how to defend an iPhone towards stingrays

Time to play catch-up

Enabling Lockdown Mode on an iPhone. — Apple

Apple

iPhones are lagging behind with regards to stingray safety, however they don’t seem to be 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 all the way 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 feature can create havoc. You could end up unable to roam home networks, and you will have to manually choose a provider if 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 function 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 nervous 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 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 sooner or later, nevertheless, because the firm prides itself on safety and privateness.