Forum Discussion
Turn off 2G on phone
I have an S20 FE 5G phone that was recently upgraded to Android 12. I understand that there is a very dangerous 2G vulnerability called "Stingray". Is it possible to block or disable 2G on my phone?
Tomwil, while what you say is true it’s also used for “man in the middle” attacks. It’s not only law enforcement that is using stingrays.
jossli wrote:
I have an S20 FE 5G phone that was recently upgraded to Android 12. I understand that there is a very dangerous 2G vulnerability called "Stingray". Is it possible to block or disable 2G on my phone?
Stingray is used by police for surveillance and not dependent on a carrier’s continuation of 2G service. As such, it appears most cell phone manufacturer’s firmware does not allow turning off 2G unless jail broken.
https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-block-stingray-surveillance
The 2G is probably available for international use. I read an article about this vulnerability and it stated that US carriers don't use 2G anymore.
I know that T-Mobile has been turning off 2G towers for a while now but I’m not certain that it’s completed. On my phone the only options I have are four options found under Mobile Networks/Network mode:
5G/LTE/3G/2G (auto connect)
LTE/3G/2G (auto connect)
LTE/3G (auto connect)
2G only
Based on these selections it appears that 2G is still an option, at least on my phone. Where I live I mostly get 5G and LTE so it may not be an issue but I do want to be a protected as possible.
Are you sure your device even had 2G enabled? I am not aware of any 2G still being available anywhere in the US. Even 3G is incredibly rare in even the most rural places in the US. If it is possible to disable 2G, you should be able to do so in one of the Engineering menus. *#*#4636#*#* Messing with this menu if you don’t know what you are doing, can render your device radio unable to receive service so don’t access or change anything in that menu if you don’t understand what you are doing.
