Show Notes
Big thanks to ThreatLocker for sponsoring my trip to Black Hat USA 2026 and also for sponsoring this video. To start your free trial with ThreatLocker please use the following link: https://www.threatlocker.com/davidbombal
Your phone can be tricked into connecting to a fake cell tower. These devices are commonly known as Stingrays, cell-site simulators or IMSI catchers. They can be used to identify and locate phones in an area, and some attacks can interfere with the security of your cellular connection.
At Black Hat and DEF CON, I spoke to Cooper Quintin, Senior Staff Technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), about Rayhunter.
Rayhunter is an open-source project from the EFF designed to detect suspicious cellular activity using inexpensive mobile hotspot hardware.
In this interview, Cooper explains how Stingrays and IMSI catchers work, why your phone can connect to a fake cell tower, what an IMSI is, how cellular downgrade attacks work, what a null cipher is, how Rayhunter detects suspicious activity, and what the EFF has learned from real-world deployments.
We also get into mobile forensic extraction, phone searches at the border, biometrics vs PINs and passwords, and the bigger question of how much surveillance power governments and law enforcement should have.
Thanks to ThreatLocker for sponsoring my trip to Black Hat and DEF CON and for sponsoring this video. #CyberSecurity #Privacy #Hacking
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// MENU // 0:00 - Intro 0:52 - Cooper Quintin introduction 01:18 - Rayhunter tool by EFF 02:45 - Stingrays used by law enforcement 05:05 - How the Rayhunter works 08:44 - Threatlocker sponsor segment 09:59 - Rayhunter results 12:06 - Concerns of Stingrays 14:02 - Why should people care 15:17 - Concerns of mobile forensic extraction tools 17:17 - Password vs biometric 18:04 - Conclusion
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Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only. #cybersecurity #bhusa26 #privacy
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