Tl; DR
- Android 16 adds a new safety feature to warn you when your phone connects to a false or unsuccessful mobile network called “stingray”.
- This function alerts you non -encrypted connections or when the network requires identifiers of your phone, which helps protect against surveillance.
- Due to new material requirements, this protection will probably only be launching new devices with Android 16, such as the next Pixel 10.
There are a lot of simple things you can do to ensure the safety of your private information, such as using solid passwords, examine application authorizations and only install applications from trust. However, some attacks are much more difficult to protect, because they are so sophisticated and stealthy that they can occur without you never noticing. One of these attacks informs your phone in connection with a false mobile network without security, which is difficult to detect for the average person. Fortunately, the new Android 16 update has a feature that can warn you when someone uses this tactic to hope.
This type of attack uses a device called “stingray”. An attacker sets up this device near a target he wants to monitor, and he imitates a legitimate cell tower. The stingray informs mobile devices nearby to connect to it, allowing the attacker to collect unique identifiers (such as IMEI) and even forcing them to an older and more precarious communication protocol. These identifiers allow attackers to target specific devices for analysis, while switching protocols can allow them to intercept text messages and non -encrypted telephone calls.
These “stingray” devices are notoriously used by law enforcement organizations, but their technology can also be acquired by malicious actors. While some argue that they are a necessary tool to monitor criminals, their abuse potential is important because they can be used to secretly collect data from ordinary people. For this reason, Google has worked on means of warning Android users or preventing them from sending communications to unsecured cellular networks.
With the version of Android 12, for example, Google added the support for the deactivation of 2G connectivity in the modem. In Android 14, the company followed by taking charge of the deactivation of connections which use zero figures – a form of non -encrypted communication. More recently, Android 15 added the management of the operating system notification when the network requires unique identifiers of a device or tries to force a new CIPTER algorithm. These features directly thwart the tactics used by commercial “bites of bites”, which induce 2G demotion or using zero figures to facilitate their traffic to intercept. Block these connections and inform the user of these requests helps protect them from surveillance.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
The rocking to deactivate 2G networks in Android 16 on a 9a pixel.
Unfortunately, only one of these three features is widely available: the possibility of deactivating 2G connectivity. The problem is that the implementation of these protections requires changes corresponding to the modem driver of a phone. The functionality which informs the operating system on identifier requests, for example, requires a modem which supports version 3.0 of the IRADIO material abstraction layer of Android (HAL). This dependence is the reason why these security features are missing on current pixel phones and other devices, and it is also likely that Google has delayed the launch of the dedicated “mobile network security” parameters that it provided for Android 15.
Since the launch of future devices with Android 16 will support the 3.0 of Iradio Hal version of Android, Google is reintroduction THE “Mobile network security»Settings page in the security center (Settings> Security and confidentiality). This page contains two sub-sections:
- Notifications
- This subsection contains a “Network notifications“Rocking. When activated, it allows the system to warn you if your device connects to an unspeared network or when the network requires unique identifiers on your phone. This rocking is deactivated by default in Android 16.
- Generation of networks
- This subsection presents a “2G network protection“Running that activates or deactivates 2G connectivity of the device. This is the same rocking found in the main SIME settings menu, and it is also disabled by default in Android 16.
The “Mobile Network Security” page will only appear on devices that support both the “2G Network Protection” function and the “Network notifications” function. This is why it does not appear on any current pixel device running Android 16, because they do not have the management of the modem necessary for notifications.
When the “Network notifications” function is activated, Android will publish a message in the notification panel and the security center each time your device goes from an encrypted network to an unspeared network, or vice versa. It will also display an alert in both places where the network accesses unique identifiers on your phone, detailing the time and the number of times they have been requested.
Now that Google has relaunched this safety page in Android 16, it will not take long before you start to see it on new devices. However, due to the Google Requirements Freeze (GRF) program – a policy that allows OEMs to lock the requirements related to the equipment for launching devices – it is unlikely that current devices will be updated to support the notification function. We will most likely have to wait for the coming devices that are launching with Android 16, such as the Pixel 10 series, to see this protection fully implemented.
