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Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 2 months ago

Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying

www.eff.org

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  • privacy@lemmy.ml
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Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying

www.eff.org

Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 2 months ago
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  • technology@lemmy.world
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.
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  • FireWire400@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Whoever designs their logos definitely needs a raise IMO.

    I’d buy all the stickers if it didn’t cost twice their value just to ship them to me.

    • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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      I hadn’t noticed this until you pointed it out, but yeah, their logos are fire

  • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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    2 months ago

    Do these work with European bands? Is it worth shipping to Europe?

    • db2@lemmy.world
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      It probably doesn’t matter which specific band.

    • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      2 months ago

      I honestly don’t know

  • Ulrich@feddit.org
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    2 months ago

    I did not understand any of that…

    • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      2 months 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. (https://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.

      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dei2buz1X0
      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMJH-UJyENs
      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhc_mTVcJ8
      • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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        2 months 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.

        • Akip@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 months ago

          link?

          nvm found one https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/02/12/georgia-ag-claims-not-having-a-phone-makes-you-a-criminal/

    • db2@lemmy.world
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      2 months 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
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    2 months ago

    Lit lit lit

  • ililiililiililiilili@lemm.ee
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    2 months 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.comOP
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      2 months 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
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        As far as I’m aware: no.

        How does data get back to EFF?

        • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          I couldn’t find anything on that yet. I think that since the project is still in a rather early stage of development, it’s more of a proof of concept. But I do know that the PCAPs are saved on the device, and you can download them onto another computer.

          • Ulrich@feddit.org
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            2 months ago

            I went ahead and ordered one so I guess I’ll find out!

    • db2@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I know for phones even an inactive sim works to talk to the towers enough for 911 to work. Might be the same.

  • Geodad@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    There used to be an IMSII detector app in F-Droid. No idea what happened to it.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      It needed Xposed framework and worked only on some devices, which are not available anymore.

      • Geodad@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        That explains it. Thanks.

    • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      It probably needs some permissions that aren’t available in newer Android versions anymore

  • NOPper@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    Doing my part!

  • Ulrich@feddit.org
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    2 months 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 executable

    Edit: Installed via Linux, here’s what the UI looks like

    There’s now a green line going across the top of the display and apparently if it detects any problems the line will turn red. Still no idea how I get that info back to the EFF though.

    • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      Bad CPU type in executable

      Do you use an Apple Silicon Mac by any chance?

      • Ulrich@feddit.org
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        2 months ago

        I don’t

        • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          2 months ago

          Can I message you on Matrix to help you diagnose this?

      • Jrockwar@feddit.uk
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        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.

        • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          2 months ago

          You’re right, I forgot about that

    • NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world
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      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.

      • Ulrich@feddit.org
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        That’s what I’m trying to run it on.

        • NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world
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          Oh, right, you did say “just got mine”… Never mind me. It does seem like it could be a mismatch between what the adb was compiled for and what it’s being asked to install on.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      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
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        It didn’t mention anything about the CPU in the install instructions…

        I guess I’ll give it a try on my Linux machine.

        Edit: Linux install was successful

        • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          It didn’t mention anything about the CPU in the install instructions…

          Try locating the binary that crashes with the “Bad CPU type” exception and run the file command on it. It will show you which architecture the binary was built for.

          Edit: Linux install was successful

          That’s good to hear

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