11–20 of 79 posts
"The Anaheim Police Department has acknowledged in new documents that it uses surveillance devices known as Dirtboxes—plane-mounted stingrays—on aircraft flying above the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world." According to the United States Census Bureau Anaheim County has a population of 346,997 (2014). Not being from the US, the fact that a c…
> The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), a controversial cellular phone surveillance device, manufactured by Harris Corporation.[2] Initially developed for the military and intelligence community, ....
> Active mode operations
1. Extracting stored data such as International Mobile Subscriber Identity ("IMSI") numbers and Electronic Serial Number ("ESN"),[9]
2. Writing cellular protocol metadata to internal storage
3. Forcing an increase in signal transmission power,[10]
4. Forcing an abundance of radio signals to be transmitted
5. Interception of communications content
6. Tracking and locating the cellular device user,[4]
7. Conducting a denial of service attack
8. Encryption key extraction.[11]
9. radio jamming for either general denial of service purposes[12] or to aid in active mode protocol rollback attacks
> In active mode, the StingRay will force each compatible cellular device in a given area to disconnect from its service provider cell site (e.g., operated by Verizon, AT&T, etc.) and establish a new connection with the StingRay.[13] In most cases, this is accomplished by having the StingRay broadcast a pilot signal that is either stronger than, or made to appear stronger than, the pilot signals being broadcast by legitimate cell sites operating in the area.[14] A common function of all cellular communications protocols is to have the cellular device connect to the cell site offering the strongest signal. StingRays exploit this function as a means to force temporary connections with cellular devices within a limited area.
So does that mean it would show up as a different carrier on my iPhone, or I'd be blind to the tower choice?
More info for anyone else who hasn't heard of Stingrays: > The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), a controversial cellular phone surveillance device, manufactured by Harris Corporation.[2] Initially developed for the military and intelligence community, .... > Active mode operations 1. Extracting stored data such as International Mobile Subscriber Identity ("IMSI") numbers and Ele…
More info for anyone else who hasn't heard of Stingrays: > The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), a controversial cellular phone surveillance device, manufactured by Harris Corporation.[2] Initially developed for the military and intelligence community, .... > Active mode operations 1. Extracting stored data such as International Mobile Subscriber Identity ("IMSI") numbers and Ele…
How fitting that they called it airplane mode. Looks like you might want to have that enabled when visiting that particular amusement park.
> Furthermore while the IMSI is not transmitted often a silent SMS or a failed call will induce the phone to transmit its IMSI or TMSI also in and out of airplane mode while registering on the network.
"The Anaheim Police Department has acknowledged in new documents that it uses surveillance devices known as Dirtboxes—plane-mounted stingrays—on aircraft flying above the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world." According to the United States Census Bureau Anaheim County has a population of 346,997 (2014). Not being from the US, the fact that a c…
"The Anaheim Police Department has acknowledged in new documents that it uses surveillance devices known as Dirtboxes—plane-mounted stingrays—on aircraft flying above the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world." According to the United States Census Bureau Anaheim County has a population of 346,997 (2014). Not being from the US, the fact that a c…
I will say, being from the US, the fact that any branch of the government would use such a device should amaze me, but unfortunately I have to admit I have heard of worse abuses of power.
It’s good idea for more safety.
It’s good idea for more safety.
My biggest disillusionment when I learned about Stingrays was with the FCC. I had always thought of the FCC as good stewards of the broadcast spectrum and I didn't think they would ever approve shenanigans like the commercial development of radios that impersonate commercial broadcasters.
It's one thing to say "we think it might be legal to use a cell site simulator in some specific circumstances", but another thing to say "our cell phone infrastructure allows anyone to successfully pretend to be a tower and spy on people, and we're not going to try to fix that".