Crocodile Hunter - Anti-Fed-cellphone-spying

[Cpt. Stud Beefpile]

Been looking for a way to use my tech talents for the public service and came across this interesting project run by the EFF to suss out the gizmos used by the Feds to not only identify individual cellphone-spying devices commonly called "Stingrays", but to publish any found to a public database:

Crocodile Hunter

Crocodile Hunter is a tool to detect and find so-called “Stingrays” or “IMSI Catchers,” devices that identify an individual mobile phone in a crowd by mimicking a cell phone tower. This link leads to the EFF source repository with instructions on hardware and software needed, as well as build...

www.eff.org

If I had a spare $1,000 or so lying around (the radio dongles are NOT cheap) I'd order a new Raspberry Pi 4 and put one together.

Has anyone else worked with this software or set it up?

 

[Just A Butt]

are you asking for $1000 cause like, go get a job

 

[byuu]

are you asking for $1000 cause like, go get a job

jobs are fed honeypots

 

[BONE_Buddy]

Very interesting. Never worked with it though.

 

[Toolbox]

Why's it cost 1000 dollars to do this? You can probably get away with using something a lot cheaper and still generally having it do the job with a bit of work.

 

[Cpt. Stud Beefpile]

are you asking for $1000 cause like, go get a job

Have a job, been trying to get a better job, maybe 20% of applications get any kind of serious response. Employers have been in resume-harvesting mode for years now. It's not just me, people with like 500+ applications are getting maybe 50 responses including rejections.

Out of the ones that do get back it's very rare to get anything above a $20/hour, 3-12 month contract where the recruiter is some farmed out Pajeet offering a gig at wages lower than some local fast food joints.

Besides, if I were e-begging, I'd ask for $3k to replace my ancient desktop.

Why's it cost 1000 dollars to do this? You can probably get away with using something a lot cheaper and still generally having it do the job with a bit of work.

The biggest item is the SDR - software defined radio. A USB flashdrive with a radio, basically. I pulled the $1000 estimate out of my ass but it's actually close by dumb luck - the cheapest computer it'll run on is a Pi4 because it does Fast Fourier Transforms and the EFF website outright says a Pi3 won't work. We'll start there:

Pi 4 8GB Model B starter kit - $245
---overkill for software, maybe, but there's no upgrading it later.
Actual heatsink and cooling fan from GeeekPi - $10
---Forget the tiny-ass heatsinks in the starter kit, plus you WILL need active cooling if you overclock the Pi as EFF suggests.
Computer subtotal: $255

The cheapest SDR EFF says will work is the Lime SDR Mini 2.0: $399
2 antennas for it from the crowdsupply website: $26
$50 for the cheapest case, same source.
SDR subtotal: $476

Estimate at least $25 x 2 for tax/shipping the computer and radio ordered separately, because you can't buy them all from the same vendor.

Grand total estimate: $860

20-40 more if you need longer antennas or any extension cords