This causes devices within range to disconnect from their service providers’ legitimate cell sites and to instead establish a new connection with the cell-site simulator. To exploit this, cell-site simulators broadcast signals that are either stronger than the legitimate cell sites around them, or are made to appear stronger. Cellular devices are designed to connect to the cell site nearby with the strongest signal. They then decode (and sometimes decrypt) those signals to find the IMSI of the mobile device and track it.Īctive cell-site simulators work very differently from their passive cousins. They work by plucking cellular transmissions out of the air, the same way an FM radio works. Generally, there are two types of device used by law enforcement that are often referred to interchangeably: passive devices (which we will call IMSI catchers), and active devices (which we will call cell-site simulators.) Passive devices, as a rule, do not transmit any signals. Some cell-site simulators may have advanced features allowing law enforcement to intercept communications or even alter the content of communications. Cell-site simulators can also log IMSI numbers (unique identifying numbers) of all of the mobile devices within a given area. Law enforcement use cell-site simulators to pinpoint the location of phones with greater accuracy than phone companies. Cell-site simulators, also known as Stingrays or IMSI catchers, are devices that masquerade as legitimate cell-phone towers, tricking phones within a certain radius into connecting to the device rather than a tower.Ĭell-site simulators operate by conducting a general search of all cell phones within the device’s radius, in violation of basic constitutional protections.
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