Android 15 Bringing An Extra Layer To Security & Privacy

The next major iteration for the Android device is Android 15, for which Google has already reached far away from the initial step and appears a bit closer to releasing it, at least in the beta stage.
Currently, Android 15 is still in the development stage and is expected to arrive in stable form by the end of summer and the fall of 2024. Now the latest update of the Developer Preview of Android 15 brings two brand new features that will add an extra layer of security and privacy, enhancing the secured experience.
Android needs major control over location data accessed by mobile network operators. As a solution for this issue, Android 15 is bringing a new feature to particularly address this privacy gap, so now the users don’t have to worry regarding their privacy over location details that can be collected by the mobile network operator.
The trouble that the development team has to go through is that the manufacturer of the cellular radio is produced by a third-party manufacturer as compared to the one that produces the device. To make sure that the operating system and hardware can interface, well-defined APIs of the hardware abstraction layer type are used, a software component that plays the role of an interface between hardware and operating system.
Android 15 brings a new feature named “Location Privacy HAL’ for offering more control over location details shared with cellular networks to users. Here HAL stands for ‘Hardware Abstraction Layer’, which acts as a mediator between the operation system and the cellular radio. Now, with this new feature, the device can block non-emergency location requests from the carrier directly.
Although emergency calls and texts will still transmit location data, the HAL will not interrupt previously approved location sharing. Although this new feature was not the latest one in Android 15, since it already appeared earlier in Android 14 QPR2, it vanished for the final release.
Android 15 also brings a new security feature named ‘StingRay’ devices. These surveillance tools mimic cell towers to trick phones into connecting and steal recognized details, for instance, IMSI (SIM card ID) and IMEI (device ID). This feature appears as fake cell towers just to trick the device into connecting and also permits users to steal their phone’s ID information, but can result in more danger. This is speculated to be the tipster Mishaal Rahman within the source code of the Developer Preview 2 of Android 15. The code contains two strings regarding a notification that should appear when a third party tries to access one of the two device identifiers.
<string name=”scIdentifierDisclosureIssueSummary”> ”A network on the %4$s connection recorded your device’s unique identifier (IMSI) %1$d times in the period between %2$tr and %3$tr.” </string>
<string name=”scIdentifierDisclosureIssueTitle”> Device identifier accessed</string>
<string name=”scCellularNetworkSecuritySummary”> Review settings</string>
<string name=”scCellularNetworkSecurityTitle”> Cellular network security</string>
However, it is not clear yet exactly when this new security measure will make its debut during the development cycle of Android 15, but it is expected that it will arrive in beta 1 by April.