# IMSI Catcher **Entity class:** Cellular surveillance technology **Aliases:** Cell-site simulator; Stingray **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition An **IMSI catcher** imitates aspects of a cellular base station so nearby devices reveal identifiers and, depending on capability and authority, additional signaling or location information. “Stingray” is commonly used as a generic label but originated as a product name. ## Relationships - **collects:** cellular identifiers used in [[wiki/Identity and Relationship Analysis|Identity and Relationship Analysis]] and [[wiki/Pattern-of-Life Analysis|Pattern-of-Life Analysis]]. - **intelligence discipline:** [[wiki/SIGINT|SIGINT]]. - **alias node:** [[wiki/Stingray|Stingray]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [U.S. Department of Justice — cell-site simulator policy, 2015](https://www.justice.gov/opa/file/767321/dl)