5 ms·

Why aren't there anti-stingray ROMs or apps yet? In my, admittedly naive, understanding is that cel towers have signatures. For instance, using Tasker for Andr

Why aren't there anti-stingray ROMs or apps yet? In my, admittedly naive, understanding is that cel towers have signatures. For instance, using Tasker for Android, I can know when I'm near home by the tower it detects. When the Stingray overpowers that tower, can't I just have a tasker task or an app or something that would detect that and shut down my celphone? *Note: I don't really need this, but if the law wants a tech fight, they should get one.

snerbles 11y ago
You'd ideally need a Stingray to develop against, and they're only sold to government customers.
- pavel_lishin 11y ago
  Unless someone finds and confirms one in the wild. Which would be an amusing scene; cars full of people with laptops and phones, sitting around a telephone pole, or wherever they mount the damned things.
sp332 11y ago
There is an IMSI Catcher Detector, called AIMSCD, available from https://secupwn.github.io/Android-IMSI-Catcher-Detector/ https://secupwn.github.io/Android-IMSI-Catcher-Detector/ (also Aptoide or F-Droid, but not the Google Play store).
kazazes 11y ago
The existing Android solution only works for Qualcomm chipsets [1], so it must require some radio-level access to verify the presence of an IMEI device. You won't be seeing it in the iOS App Store. Maybe someone can find the relevant private APIs to make it happen. http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/12/31/snoopsnitch_is_an_app_by_the_german_srlabs_that_detects_imsi_catchers_stingrays.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/12/31/snoopsnit...
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  Preventing an iPhone from downgrading to 2G (as a user-configurable option) would solve the problem. 3G/4G/LTE prevents spoofed tower issues.
arca_vorago 11y ago
There are a few, but they are best used on cyagenomod or even better Replicant. The problem is that we all got excited about linux on phones via android, but then google gave in and let the manufacturers and carriers insert their BS and didn't do enough to push for open phones, so we still have phones with closed firmwares, closed OS's, and cell radio's with DMA to the same space as the CPU, so even if you install Replicant on a GT04, you still have proprietary bootrom, hardware, modem, which could be backdoored for all we know. To me this just reinforces the need for strong copyleft like GPLv3 and reveals the glaring insufficiencies of GPLv2 and BSD-esque licenses. Stallman was and is right, he was just a man ahead of his time. Those who recognize this and work towards freeing themselves and their users will be ahead of the game when the dystopian future hits. Most people won't understand this until everyone else plugs in Apple iBrain. I won't be touching my neurons with anything but GPLv5.

snerbles 11y ago

You'd ideally need a Stingray to develop against, and they're only sold to government customers.

pavel_lishin 11y ago
Unless someone finds and confirms one in the wild. Which would be an amusing scene; cars full of people with laptops and phones, sitting around a telephone pole, or wherever they mount the damned things.

sp332 11y ago

There is an IMSI Catcher Detector, called AIMSCD, available from https://secupwn.github.io/Android-IMSI-Catcher-Detector/ https://secupwn.github.io/Android-IMSI-Catcher-Detector/ (also Aptoide or F-Droid, but not the Google Play store).

kazazes 11y ago

The existing Android solution only works for Qualcomm chipsets [1], so it must require some radio-level access to verify the presence of an IMEI device. You won't be seeing it in the iOS App Store. Maybe someone can find the relevant private APIs to make it happen. http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/12/31/snoopsnitch_is_an_app_by_the_german_srlabs_that_detects_imsi_catchers_stingrays.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/12/31/snoopsnit...

toomuchtodo 11y ago
Preventing an iPhone from downgrading to 2G (as a user-configurable option) would solve the problem. 3G/4G/LTE prevents spoofed tower issues.

arca_vorago 11y ago

There are a few, but they are best used on cyagenomod or even better Replicant. The problem is that we all got excited about linux on phones via android, but then google gave in and let the manufacturers and carriers insert their BS and didn't do enough to push for open phones, so we still have phones with closed firmwares, closed OS's, and cell radio's with DMA to the same space as the CPU, so even if you install Replicant on a GT04, you still have proprietary bootrom, hardware, modem, which could be backdoored for all we know. To me this just reinforces the need for strong copyleft like GPLv3 and reveals the glaring insufficiencies of GPLv2 and BSD-esque licenses. Stallman was and is right, he was just a man ahead of his time. Those who recognize this and work towards freeing themselves and their users will be ahead of the game when the dystopian future hits. Most people won't understand this until everyone else plugs in Apple iBrain. I won't be touching my neurons with anything but GPLv5.