[HN Gopher] Apple and Google Are Introducing New Ways to Defeat ...
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       Apple and Google Are Introducing New Ways to Defeat Stringrays - Is
       It Enough?
        
       Author : arkadiyt
       Score  : 21 points
       Date   : 2023-09-17 17:43 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.eff.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.eff.org)
        
       | pcblues wrote:
       | Stringray? I clicked because I hadn't heard of that before :)
        
         | bskap wrote:
         | StingRay is a brand name. The generic term is IMSI catcher.
         | Basically a portable fake cell tower law enforcement can carry
         | around that will capture the identities of every phone in the
         | vicinity. They can also pretend to be 2G-only towers to trick
         | phones to use an insecure protocol so more data can be
         | captured.
         | 
         | Since it tracks everyone in the area, there's major privacy
         | concerns about how they're used, and police have been caught
         | repeatedly lying about their use. To the point that if the
         | defense in a case discovered police had used a Stingray to
         | identify their client and challenged it, the police would drop
         | the case rather than letting anything about the Stingray enter
         | the public record. https://arstechnica.com/tech-
         | policy/2015/04/fbi-would-rather...
        
           | allanrbo wrote:
           | I think they were referring to the typo. StRingray. :-)
        
       | mark_l_watson wrote:
       | So, for iOS stingrays are blocked when the phone is in lockdown
       | mode.
       | 
       | Off topic, but I am re-evaluating using some web services that
       | don't work as well in Lockdown mode. I ask myself, what are these
       | sites doing that running in Lockdown mode interferes with normal
       | use?
        
         | ls612 wrote:
         | JIT JavaScript compilation is the big one for the web, without
         | it some sites will have performance issues.
        
       | instagib wrote:
       | Apple iOS 17 option on only in lockdown mode for insecure 2G
       | towers.
       | 
       | .. documents show the "Stingray II" device can impersonate four
       | cellular communications towers at once, monitoring up to four
       | cellular provider networks simultaneously, and with an add-on can
       | operate on so-called 2G, 3G, and 4G networks simultaneously.
       | 
       | https://theintercept.com/2016/09/12/long-secret-stingray-man...
        
         | jiofj wrote:
         | >Apple iOS 17 option on only in lockdown mode for insecure 2G
         | towers.
         | 
         | Extreme facepalm. So many good options are held behind an all-
         | or-nothing setting.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-17 23:01 UTC)