Cell-site simulators (CSS, 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. Our new tool, Rayhunter, can help you find them. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/meet-rayhunter-new-open-source-tool-eff-detect-cellular-spying
Discussion
And what do such fake towers do exactly, after you connect to them?
They pat you on the head and give you an ice cream.
It's called a "man in the middle" attack. But what can they even do to you, say, if your data is all encrypted over a VPN anyway? Nothing, right?
They will get your metadata, they could identify you. For example your phone is connected two times per day to their fake tower, that means you are passing by two times a day. That is data about you...