Pirates divert mobile telephony branches to intercept your calls, read your messages or follow your position. But a new function arrives on smartphones to locate these malicious networks.
Mobile networks can become formidable traps. In appearance, everything works normally: calls make, messages send each other, the connection remains stable. But behind this facade functioning can hide a discreet and formidable device: a false relay antenna. This type of attack, nicknamed “Stingray”, is to imitate a legitimate telecom relay to push the phones to connect automatically, without alerting the user.
Once the connection is established, there are many surveillance possibilities. The pirate apparatus can intercept calls, read SMS, collect unique telephone identifiers, follow travel or even force the use of unsecured networks such as 2G. In some cases, these rigged relays can even discreetly inject spy software into the device. This type of equipment is sometimes used by the police in sensitive surveys, but it can also fall into the hands of malicious groups.
These attacks are based on a structural fault in the operation of mobile phones: to guarantee good coverage, the devices spontaneously connect to the antenna which offers them the strongest signal, without checking its authenticity. Result: any smartphone can be trapped, even without being specifically targeted. And so far, no system has been really able to prevent you in real time.
But Google changes the situation with Android 16. The new operating system indeed introduces a section called “mobile network safety” in the parameters, which brings together several unpublished functions. One of them allows you to receive an alert when the phone connects to a suspicious or not encrypted network. Another identifies attempts to access identifiers such as IMEI or IMSI, often targeted by Stingray attacks. These alerts will appear in the telephone security center and inform the user without generating unnecessary panic.
Another important novelty: the possibility of fully deactivating the 2G network, still widely used in certain regions but which has become very vulnerable to interceptions. This option, already present in a few models from Android 12, will be better integrated into Android 16. It will limit risks, even if this can reduce connectivity in certain areas. Emergency calls will still remain possible.
Be careful however: these new protections will not be accessible to everyone. Android 16 requires hardware compatibility with specific technology called Iradio Hal 3.0. Clearly, only phones designed with this version will benefit from alerts in real time. The Google Pixel 10, scheduled for the end of the summer, should be the first to offer them. The other smartphones already on the market will not be able to take full advantage of it.
Pending these devices, certain simple gestures make it possible to reduce the risks: avoid automatically activating unknown networks, deactivate the 2G if the option exists, and remain attentive to the strange behavior of your phone, such as calls which cut without reason or sudden signal reductions. Mobile networks are not always as reliable as they seem.
