I did not understand any of that…
Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying
Submitted 4 weeks ago by Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/meet-rayhunter-new-open-source-tool-eff-detect-cellular-spying
Comments
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
This is the easiest explanation I could come up with:
Your phone (or other cellular devices) constantly broadcasts a few identifiers. The IMEI, which is tied directly to the cellular hardware in your device, and the IMSI, which is tied to your SIM card. Law enforcement uses so called cell-site simulators, which basically pretend to be cellular antennas, while actually just grabbing IMEIs and IMSIs from every device in the area. This is often used during protests, in order to identify those who attend them.
Rayhunter is a piece of software that detects the presence of cell-site simulators, making attendants of protests aware of the hidden danger.
This is especially important, now that the US basically transformed into an authoritarian state. We’ve already seen how Trump strategically uses law enforcement to crack down on protests, such as the BLM movement in 2020. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_a63r5Km9I) Being aware of law enforcement/intelligence operations that try to identify and track down protest attendants is more important than ever.
surph_ninja@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
They do this so consistently at protests, the Georgia AG tried to claim it showed criminal intent to not bring your phone to a protest for tracking.
db2@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Short version is it’s a man-in-the-middle detector to see if you’re being spied on, using a cheap off the shelf cellular device.
MTK@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Lit lit lit
Geodad@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
There used to be an IMSII detector app in F-Droid. No idea what happened to it.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
It needed Xposed framework and worked only on some devices, which are not available anymore.
Geodad@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
That explains it. Thanks.
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
It probably needs some permissions that aren’t available in newer Android versions anymore
NOPper@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
Doing my part!
ililiililiililiilili@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Is it necessary to get a cell plan to run the hotspot? If its just a matter of buying the $20 and loading EFF’s software, I’m definitely onboard!
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
Is it necessary to get a cell plan to run the hotspot?
As far as I’m aware: no. Cell-site simulators could theoretically only target devices that connect with a valid IMSI, but I kinda doubt that they are doing that. But you could get a cheap prepaid SIM, instead of an actual cell plan.
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
As far as I’m aware: no.
How does data get back to EFF?
db2@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I know for phones even an inactive sim works to talk to the towers enough for 911 to work. Might be the same.
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
Just got mine and getting this error. Would appreciate any support you nerds can give me because I don’t have a Github account:
Using adb at ./platform-tools/adb Force a switch into the debug mode to enable ADB /Applications/release/install-common.sh: line 20: ./serial-macos-latest/serial: Bad CPU type in executablerottingleaf@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
From what’s written here, it appears you have an Intel Mac and the thing has only ARM Mac executable, or the other way around.
Ulrich@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
It didn’t mention anything about the CPU in the install instructions…
I guess I’ll give it a try on my Linux machine.
Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
Bad CPU type in executable
Do you use an Apple Silicon Mac by any chance?
Jrockwar@feddit.uk 4 weeks ago
It’s the other way around, an Apple Silicon Mac would be able to run an intel binary through Rosetta (I think there’s almost no exceptions at this point). It’s intel macs that can’t run Arm specific binaries.
NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I think it needs special hardware to run on:
It is developed to run on an Orbic mobile hotspot (Amazon, Ebay) which is available for $20 or less at the time of this writing.
FireWire400@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Whoever designs their logos definitely needs a raise IMO.
I’d buy all the stickers if it didn’t cost three times their value just to ship them to me.
AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 4 weeks ago
I hadn’t noticed this until you pointed it out, but yeah, their logos are fire