Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying
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.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/meet-rayhunter-new-open-source-tool-eff-detect-cellular-spyingOpen linkView original on kbin.melroy.org291
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From the Github (emphasis mine):
Still very cool, but very, very limited options for using it.
On the plus side, it at least seems like a relatively inexpensive option, only $19 on Amazon.
To be clear, I'm only linking to it on Amazon because it is sold out from the manufacturer itself. Due to being sold out, I assume, Orbic doesn't even list a price for it.
Another important note from the Github (emphasis not mine):
I've seen them cheaper on ebay
The real issue, whether on Amazon or ebay, is that only a handful on ebay are listed as "unlocked" to be used on cellular networks other than Verizon.
Fwiw: I’ve been using a Verizon locked one without ever activating the sim. It works just fine as a Rayhunter. It just doesn’t work as a hotspot.
Dope, thanks for the heads up
I feel ya. It’s crazy easy. I was surprised. Then, just wardrive. 😊
Can this be made into an android app to hook into android's APIs for their modem? I think that would make it a lot more portable
Maybe? The Orbic is fully Linux whereas Android is a locked down heavily modified version Linux with a lot of differences in the codebase.
Androids only work as a WiFi hotspot. I could be wrong but I am not aware of any with cellular hotspot capability. You would need it running as a cellular hotspot for it to detect the stingrays.
Ah, I missed that crucial part, apologies. I'm not very well versed with cellular standards: I would assume that Qualcomm is not very OpenSource friendly. Is there any other manufacturer they could use?
There are no heavy Linux modifications in Android.
Will this work in Europe?
https://www.justanswer.com/computer-networking/h3j0m-orbic-mifi-trying-active.html
This thread seems to imply that it could work in Europe for US Verizon customers, but I can't find much else about whether or not it directly supports European cellular radio bands.
Are we saying CSS instead of IMSI catchers now? Why?
That pretty awesome, will try to get it.
I always find it deeply ironic that valuable tools that are meant to protect people are released in forms that exclude an overwhelming proportion of the people who could use it.
It was the same issue with Ladybird browser up until a month or so ago - they were projecting Windows support only some time in 2027 to 2029. Like, how the hell are you supposed to achieve a critical mass of eyeballs when the vast majority of people who would love to test the product just don’t have the platform to run it on? It’s ideological shortsightedness at its kindest characterization. And I wouldn’t be kind.
Plus, DotNet is almost trivially cross-platform these days and almost ridiculously easy to develop with… for something like an install script you really don’t have an excuse to not hit all three platforms anymore.
Make sure to lodge a complaint with Microsoft about how their OS is incompatible with almost everything else.
Then please help https://github.com/EFForg/rayhunter/issues/65
I agree with everything you said except for this:
But so is Java. Or Kotlin. Or Rust. Or Python. Hell, even JavaScript is acceptable for a simple GUI program that's meant to be run once to install the real program.
And those are open source and don't have Microsoft telemetry in the build tools AND IN THE RUNTIME!!! So you now have to taint your Linux or Mac system by installing the JVM we have at home.