Stingrays: How Police Listen to You Part 1

Thibault Serlet

A June 2013 investigation by USA TODAY revealed that 25 out of 125 of police stations studied were using stingrays to intercept and monitor phone calls.

Stingrays are IMSI-catchers that mimic cell phone towers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks. They can either masquerade as fake cell phone towers, as shown in the picture above, or can be mounted to vehicles. Some weaker IMSI-catchers fit in a suitcase. Wall Street Journal reported in November 2014 that feds were using stingrays in airplanes to spy on entire cities.

The full extent of stingray use is yet unknown. The ACLU published a list of federal agencies known to use them, along with a list of 43 local police departments. The 2012 Federal wiretap report may provide a clue as to the possible extent of Stingray use. Riverside County PD alone intercepted 200 thousand messages during a single investigation over the course of 30 days. Although it is unknown which technology was used in the wiretaps, the department is known to possess multiple stingrays.

In addition to being used for bulk interception of thousands or tens of thousands of calls, they have numerous other interesting capabilities.

Like other IMSI-catchers, they could also be potentially used in signal jamming and electronic warfare. For example, using the existing stingray infrastructure, a police department could jam internet and phone signals in a given area. The FBI is known to have used a stingray to jam signals at least once. More alarmingly, the FBI could establish a no-fly zone by jamming drone control signals.

Stingrays could also be used to force fake software updates and insert malware into phones. This malware could interfere with any encryption software on the target phones.

After a Supreme Court decision banned the use of GPS tracking, various agencies realized they could use their IMSI-catchers to track phones. In 2008, a stingray tracked a stolen phone with enough precision that it could be found within an apartment complex.

There are several countermeasures that can be taken to protect oneself from stingray surveillance. First, there is a free app which detects the presence of IMSI-catchers. To stop phone tracking, there exist many EMF-blocking cases that can prevent your phone from receiving signals. And lastly, make sure that any updates you install are authentic.

Stay safe, people!