What you want to know
- Android 16 will have the ability to sniff out pretend cell towers and shady networks, supplying you with a heads-up earlier than your telephone spills your secrets and techniques to knowledge thieves.
- These pretend towers idiot your telephone into connecting, then quietly steal your location and knowledge.
- Android 15 laid the groundwork by recognizing bizarre community habits and flagging system ID grabs or encryption tampering.
Android 16 is bringing a brand new safety improve that sniffs out sketchy cell networks and pretend towers to present you a heads-up if one thing shady pops up, protecting knowledge thieves off your path.
Some cell networks are imposters. These simulators, often called “stingrays,” mimic legit towers, fooling your telephone into connecting and quietly leaking your location and messages. In case your system connects with out your figuring out, your non-public knowledge’s mainly up for grabs.
To deal with this situation, Android 16 is getting a brand new safety function that spots sketchy community connections and warns you if somebody is attempting to snoop in your calls or knowledge.
That mentioned, this safety improve gained’t work on present Android telephones. As Android Authority identified, the {hardware} simply isn’t there but. The primary system anticipated to assist it’s the upcoming Google Pixel 10.
Google has been prepping for this battle
Google has been quietly cracking down on stingray spying for some time. With Android 15, the tech large baked in smarter defenses that catch when a community tries to seize your telephone’s distinctive identifiers or mess with encryption. These options don’t simply block the tips; additionally they provide you with a warning when one thing shady is occurring.
With Android 16, Google is beefing up your telephone’s defenses with the addition of the “Cell community safety” setting. It’ll flag sketchy stuff, like unencrypted connections or networks fishing on your system ID, each frequent stingray tips. You’ll additionally have the ability to shut off 2G completely, reducing off one of many best methods for snoops to get in.
Stingrays aren’t only for regulation enforcement
Whereas regulation enforcement businesses have used them for surveillance, they’re not off-limits to shady people both. That’s what makes them so harmful. Google’s transfer here’s a main step towards protecting your telephone conversations and knowledge secure from these silent threats.
The most recent Android replace, which arrived earlier this month, brings these safety upgrades. Supported units now get a toggle for “community notifications.”
Flip it on, and your telephone will provide you with a warning if it connects to an unencrypted community or if that community tries to seize your system’s distinctive identifiers. Each are pink flags for shady stuff like stingray assaults.
