Free WIFI everywhere!  Be afraid?????? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Seekonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 11:45:54 am
content: I've always had the suspicion that Microsoft can get to my laptop any time it wants. At my camp I don't have WIFI, but neighbors do. When there, my laptop will start doing one of their 20 minute updates at the most inopportune time. I may have not been on the internet for a day or so before that. Now I have a medical device that reports through WIFI. When given instruction in how to use it I told them that I don't always have WIFI. They said... Don't worry, it will find it. Many of our users don't have WIFI. Sure enough it latched onto someone's and reported.Is this like cell phones? You can have one, not pay for service, and still get to make 911 calls. They gave Microsoft and medical devices a pass? My laptop never said it connected to the internet, but id did. Seems like a massive vulnerability for hackers to exploit. Got to go. I have to wrap my laptop in aluminum foil.

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 11:49:50 am
content: Quote from: Seekonk on August 16, 2016, 11:45:54 amCellphones will piggyback onto any carrier's system to make an emergency call if they are capable of 'talking' to the system.Computers must find either a previously connected Wifi access point or an open one to be able to connect. There is no 'free pass' unless the owner of the WiFi makes it free

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 11:53:27 am
content: AFAIK you always have to confirm connection to an unknown SSID of a Wifi AP.If you once have confirmed it will remember that SSID and will connect automatically next time.Perhaps this is a setting in Windows, not sure about that.That is why if you use free Wifi in hotels or other places and you want to keep your privacy you should after finishing your session instruct your device to forget the network, it will then delete the entry.If you don't and I must admit I forget it often myself , then the device will try to connect with all known SSID's from the Wifi AP's in memory and anyone with a wifi sniffer can see which SSIDs it is looking for and ergo tell where you have been the last months. They can not hack you but could do something else like setting up another unprotected wifi AP with one of the SSIDs your device is looking for, then it will connect. Not sure what they can do next, perhaps some ethical hacker can shed some light on that.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 11:57:14 am
content: Quote from: Kjelt on August 16, 2016, 11:53:27 amI don't think your device will be transmitting the SSIDs it is looking for...

author: rollatorwieltje
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 12:29:35 pm
content: Quote from: Seekonk on August 16, 2016, 11:45:54 amI doubt it uses WIFI, it probably uses GPRS or 3G. If it used WIFI it would only work on open networks, I rarely see those anymore. The only open networks I see typically have some sort of captive portal where you have to fill in a token or credentials in your browser and sometimes have to keep a popup open, that's practically impossible to do for an automated device.By default Windows shouldn't connect to any random network. If it does, it's probably the driver of your WIFI card having it as an option. I know it is (was?) an option in the Intel Wireless configuration tool. Windows XP used to autoconnect, but that feature was disabled by default since XP SP2 and completely removed in Windows 7.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 12:42:43 pm
content: If I'm not using WiFi, Bluetooth or NFC, I simply disable the service.Wouldn't that be an obvious strategy?

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 01:07:41 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on August 16, 2016, 11:57:14 amWhen it is not connected to a network it will send out probe requests, kind like: "Hey! Previously connected network **** are you there?“There is software out there that will capture these requests and can determine together with the MAC address the specific geolocation that AP was, hence it can track your movement of the last weeks.Quotehttps://blog.rootshell.be/2012/01/12/show-me-your-ssids-ill-tell-who-you-are/

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 01:23:37 pm
content: Alright, I didn't know that the SSID was actively probed even if it is not a hidden network. However, "Each time you boot your computer or you reconfigure your Wireless card" is not something that I do a lot with my phone, and I wonder if this happens even when the device detects a known network beacon first.Time for me to do a bit more research.

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2016, 02:33:32 pm
content: Depends on where. BT has BT openzone which involves bt homehubs.Microsoft has been notorious on introducing vulnerabilities for the sake of simplicity and user friendliness such as windows 10 sharing your wifi login details. Now to be secure you need layer 2 security and radius.The other problem with free wifi is security. You need a vpn to bypass potential security problems and if port 80,443 and vpn passthrough are filtered than vpn isnt possible unless you set up your own openvpn server. So a device that finds a wifi has the risk of the information being monitored. Whether that is an issue for you is up to you. Even for cell phones there are repeaters that are used to monitor all cellphones in the area.