New Android 14 Security Feature: IT Admins Can Now Disable 2G Networks
Aug 09, 2023
Mobile Security / Network Attack
Google has introduced a new security feature in Android 14 that allows IT administrators to disable support for 2G cellular networks in their managed device fleet. The search giant said it's introducing a second user setting to turn off support, at the model level, for null-ciphered cellular connections . "The Android Security Model assumes that all networks are hostile to keep users safe from network packet injection, tampering, or eavesdropping on user traffic," Roger Piqueras Jover, Yomna Nasser, and Sudhi Herle said . "Android does not rely on link-layer encryption to address this threat model. Instead, Android establishes that all network traffic should be end-to-end encrypted (E2EE)." 2G networks, in particular, employ weak encryption and lack mutual authentication, rendering them susceptible to over-the-air interception and traffic decryption attacks by impersonating a real 2G tower. The threat posed by rogue cellular base stations means th