4 ms·

If you want to detect the presence of an IMSI catcher such as the Stingray system, you won't be able to do that on Android, iPhone or basically any phone out th

If you want to detect the presence of an IMSI catcher such as the Stingray system, you won't be able to do that on Android, iPhone or basically any phone out there you can buy today. What you need is a phone that has been hacked to run the osmocomBB firmware and baseband software: http://bb.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/Hardware/Phones http://bb.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/Hardware/Phones You can then use the CatcherCatcher software from SRLabs who have been working on this GSM/mobile security stuff since forever: https://opensource.srlabs.de/projects/mobile-network-assessment-tools/wiki/CatcherCatcher https://opensource.srlabs.de/projects/mobile-network-assessm...

jacquesm 12y ago
First I heard about this: http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/45943-police-departments-caught-covering-up-illegal-use-of-the-stingrayhailstorm-cell-phone-listening-device/ http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/45943-police-depar... What is the legal status of using something like CatcherCatcher? (in other words, could you get in trouble for using it in the same way that you can get in trouble in many places for having a radar detector?)
- exhilaration 12y ago
  Only if CatcherCatcher is made explicitly illegal, like the legislature of Virginia and the city council of Washington D.C. have made radar detectors illegal. Those are the only two places (and military bases) that radar detectors are illegal for passenger cars in the United States.
  - gknoy 12y ago
    I did not know that radar detectors were illegal on military bases, let alone in VA/DC. Thank you for the heads-up. :)
joekrill 12y ago
Does that mean this comment is incorrect? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7844350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7844350
- revelation 12y ago
  Checking the cell ID can be used to detect an IMSI catcher, but it requires knowing which cell IDs can be trusted. That requires some kind of cell ID whitelist and can be a pain to maintain / prone to false positives. Notice however that CatcherCatcher does a lot more than just detecting IMSI catchers. It also detects when you receive a "silent text message". Law enforcement works with mobile network operators to continously send these text messages to a mobile device. The baseband in the device then wakes, communicates with the nearest cell and thereby reveals its proximate location, without ever notifying the application processor that anything of note has happened. This allows for tracking a persons movement around cells at pretty much zero cost and can be done from any point in the world, unlike the IMSI catcher that requires you to be close to the target for it to pickup on the fake network.

jacquesm 12y ago

First I heard about this: http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/45943-police-departments-caught-covering-up-illegal-use-of-the-stingrayhailstorm-cell-phone-listening-device/ http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/45943-police-depar... What is the legal status of using something like CatcherCatcher? (in other words, could you get in trouble for using it in the same way that you can get in trouble in many places for having a radar detector?)

exhilaration 12y ago
Only if CatcherCatcher is made explicitly illegal, like the legislature of Virginia and the city council of Washington D.C. have made radar detectors illegal. Those are the only two places (and military bases) that radar detectors are illegal for passenger cars in the United States.
- gknoy 12y ago
  I did not know that radar detectors were illegal on military bases, let alone in VA/DC. Thank you for the heads-up. :)

joekrill 12y ago

Does that mean this comment is incorrect? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7844350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7844350

revelation 12y ago
Checking the cell ID can be used to detect an IMSI catcher, but it requires knowing which cell IDs can be trusted. That requires some kind of cell ID whitelist and can be a pain to maintain / prone to false positives. Notice however that CatcherCatcher does a lot more than just detecting IMSI catchers. It also detects when you receive a "silent text message". Law enforcement works with mobile network operators to continously send these text messages to a mobile device. The baseband in the device then wakes, communicates with the nearest cell and thereby reveals its proximate location, without ever notifying the application processor that anything of note has happened. This allows for tracking a persons movement around cells at pretty much zero cost and can be done from any point in the world, unlike the IMSI catcher that requires you to be close to the target for it to pickup on the fake network.