3 ms·
> the attacker can harvest device information and force your phone onto an older, unencrypted protocol. This is why you should always toggle the setting that d
by catlifeonmars 9mo ago
> the attacker can harvest device information and force your phone onto an older, unencrypted protocol.
This is why you should always toggle the setting that disables 2g/3g fallback.
With 4G, for example, your device will refuse to connect fully unless the network can pass the cryptographic challenge that proves it shares the key material included in your SIM card (I know, I know, symmetric keys are not ideal). The best an attacker can hope to do in 4G+ is harvest your subscriber ID (IMSI) or deny you service while you are in range.
- CGMthrowaway 9mo agoOnly way I know how to do this on iPhone is to enable "Lockdown Mode" which also removes images from messages, etc. Is there another way?
- catlifeonmars 9mo agoAFAIK lockdown mode is the only way on iPhone. This will disable 2g, but not 3g.
- dfawcus 9mo agoLockdown mode allows one to optionally disable 2g, maybe it is also the default there. One can turn 2g back on in said mode if desired. As to 3g, it is largely switched off here, and I understand most of the rest of the world is also disabling it. However it does not remove images from messages, it just disables certain automatic helpers - e.g. link previews etc. One can still send photos, etc without any issue.
- catlifeonmars 9mo agoThis doesn’t mitigate the issue that a malicious base station poses by downgrading a phone. It doesn’t matter what the network supports. It matters what the phone supports