Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying
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Rayhunter is a new open source tool we’ve created that runs off an affordable mobile hotspot that we hope empowers everyone, regardless of technical skill, to help search out cell-site simulators (CSS) around the world.
Can this be made into an android app to hook into android's APIs for their modem? I think that would make it a lot more portable
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Can this be made into an android app to hook into android's APIs for their modem? I think that would make it a lot more portable
Maybe? The Orbic is fully Linux whereas Android is a locked down heavily modified version Linux with a lot of differences in the codebase.
Androids only work as a WiFi hotspot. I could be wrong but I am not aware of any with cellular hotspot capability. You would need it running as a cellular hotspot for it to detect the stingrays.
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Maybe? The Orbic is fully Linux whereas Android is a locked down heavily modified version Linux with a lot of differences in the codebase.
Androids only work as a WiFi hotspot. I could be wrong but I am not aware of any with cellular hotspot capability. You would need it running as a cellular hotspot for it to detect the stingrays.
Ah, I missed that crucial part, apologies. I'm not very well versed with cellular standards: I would assume that Qualcomm is not very OpenSource friendly. Is there any other manufacturer they could use?
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From the Github:
Orbic RC400L mobile hotspot
Still very cool, but very, very limited options for using it.
On the plus side, it at least seems like a relatively inexpensive option, only $19 on Amazon.
To be clear, I'm only linking to it on Amazon because it is sold out from the manufacturer itself. Due to being sold out, I assume, Orbic doesn't even list a price for it.
They're $11 on eBay.
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I've seen them cheaper on ebay
The real issue, whether on Amazon or ebay, is that only a handful on ebay are listed as "unlocked" to be used on cellular networks other than Verizon.
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Maybe? The Orbic is fully Linux whereas Android is a locked down heavily modified version Linux with a lot of differences in the codebase.
Androids only work as a WiFi hotspot. I could be wrong but I am not aware of any with cellular hotspot capability. You would need it running as a cellular hotspot for it to detect the stingrays.
There are no heavy Linux modifications in Android.
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The real issue, whether on Amazon or ebay, is that only a handful on ebay are listed as "unlocked" to be used on cellular networks other than Verizon.
Fwiw: I’ve been using a Verizon locked one without ever activating the sim. It works just fine as a Rayhunter. It just doesn’t work as a hotspot.
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Fwiw: I’ve been using a Verizon locked one without ever activating the sim. It works just fine as a Rayhunter. It just doesn’t work as a hotspot.
Dope, thanks for the heads up
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Rayhunter is a new open source tool we’ve created that runs off an affordable mobile hotspot that we hope empowers everyone, regardless of technical skill, to help search out cell-site simulators (CSS) around the world.
Are we saying CSS instead of IMSI catchers now? Why?
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Are we saying CSS instead of IMSI catchers now? Why?
Looks like they aren't using "IMSI catcher" because it only covers one of the uses of those devices.
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Maybe? The Orbic is fully Linux whereas Android is a locked down heavily modified version Linux with a lot of differences in the codebase.
Androids only work as a WiFi hotspot. I could be wrong but I am not aware of any with cellular hotspot capability. You would need it running as a cellular hotspot for it to detect the stingrays.
what do you mean by cellular hotspot? working as a CSS itself?
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Looks like they aren't using "IMSI catcher" because it only covers one of the uses of those devices.
Can you elaborate?
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Rayhunter is a new open source tool we’ve created that runs off an affordable mobile hotspot that we hope empowers everyone, regardless of technical skill, to help search out cell-site simulators (CSS) around the world.
run an install script for either Mac or Linux (we do not support Windows as an installation platform at this time.)
I always find it deeply ironic that valuable tools that are meant to protect people are released in forms that exclude an overwhelming proportion of the people who could use it.
It was the same issue with Ladybird browser up until a month or so ago - they were projecting Windows support only some time in 2027 to 2029. Like, how the hell are you supposed to achieve a critical mass of eyeballs when the vast majority of people who would love to test the product just don’t have the platform to run it on? It’s ideological shortsightedness at its kindest characterization. And I wouldn’t be kind.
Plus, DotNet is almost trivially cross-platform these days and almost ridiculously easy to develop with… for something like an install script you really don’t have an excuse to not hit all three platforms anymore.
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Fwiw: I’ve been using a Verizon locked one without ever activating the sim. It works just fine as a Rayhunter. It just doesn’t work as a hotspot.
Good to know. I need to flash the one I purchased a few weeks ago. Just got busy and forgot.
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run an install script for either Mac or Linux (we do not support Windows as an installation platform at this time.)
I always find it deeply ironic that valuable tools that are meant to protect people are released in forms that exclude an overwhelming proportion of the people who could use it.
It was the same issue with Ladybird browser up until a month or so ago - they were projecting Windows support only some time in 2027 to 2029. Like, how the hell are you supposed to achieve a critical mass of eyeballs when the vast majority of people who would love to test the product just don’t have the platform to run it on? It’s ideological shortsightedness at its kindest characterization. And I wouldn’t be kind.
Plus, DotNet is almost trivially cross-platform these days and almost ridiculously easy to develop with… for something like an install script you really don’t have an excuse to not hit all three platforms anymore.
Then please help https://github.com/EFForg/rayhunter/issues/65
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run an install script for either Mac or Linux (we do not support Windows as an installation platform at this time.)
I always find it deeply ironic that valuable tools that are meant to protect people are released in forms that exclude an overwhelming proportion of the people who could use it.
It was the same issue with Ladybird browser up until a month or so ago - they were projecting Windows support only some time in 2027 to 2029. Like, how the hell are you supposed to achieve a critical mass of eyeballs when the vast majority of people who would love to test the product just don’t have the platform to run it on? It’s ideological shortsightedness at its kindest characterization. And I wouldn’t be kind.
Plus, DotNet is almost trivially cross-platform these days and almost ridiculously easy to develop with… for something like an install script you really don’t have an excuse to not hit all three platforms anymore.
Make sure to lodge a complaint with Microsoft about how their OS is incompatible with almost everything else.
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run an install script for either Mac or Linux (we do not support Windows as an installation platform at this time.)
I always find it deeply ironic that valuable tools that are meant to protect people are released in forms that exclude an overwhelming proportion of the people who could use it.
It was the same issue with Ladybird browser up until a month or so ago - they were projecting Windows support only some time in 2027 to 2029. Like, how the hell are you supposed to achieve a critical mass of eyeballs when the vast majority of people who would love to test the product just don’t have the platform to run it on? It’s ideological shortsightedness at its kindest characterization. And I wouldn’t be kind.
Plus, DotNet is almost trivially cross-platform these days and almost ridiculously easy to develop with… for something like an install script you really don’t have an excuse to not hit all three platforms anymore.
Plus, DotNet is almost trivially cross-platform these days and almost ridiculously easy to develop with… for something like an install script you really don’t have an excuse to not hit all three platforms anymore.
So is Java. Or Kotlin. Or Rust. Or Python. Hell, even JavaScript is acceptable for a simple GUI program that's meant to be run once to install the real program.
And those are open source and don't have Microsoft telemetry in the build tools.
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Can you elaborate?
It says in the article.
Law enforcement use CSS to pinpoint the location of phones often with greater accuracy than other techniques such as cell site location information (CSLI) and without needing to involve the phone company at all. CSS can also log International Mobile Subscriber Identifiers (IMSI numbers) unique to each SIM card, or hardware serial numbers (IMEIs) of all of the mobile devices within a given area. Some CSS may have advanced features allowing law enforcement to intercept communications in some circumstances.
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It says in the article.
Law enforcement use CSS to pinpoint the location of phones often with greater accuracy than other techniques such as cell site location information (CSLI) and without needing to involve the phone company at all. CSS can also log International Mobile Subscriber Identifiers (IMSI numbers) unique to each SIM card, or hardware serial numbers (IMEIs) of all of the mobile devices within a given area. Some CSS may have advanced features allowing law enforcement to intercept communications in some circumstances.
All of that should be doable with IMSI catchers, no? Except it would certainly allow intercepting communications.
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Good to know. I need to flash the one I purchased a few weeks ago. Just got busy and forgot.
I feel ya. It’s crazy easy. I was surprised. Then, just wardrive.
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