Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Using a $20 off-the-shelf drone, they have developed an efficient aerial scanning device that can determine the position of every WiFi-connected device in your home through triangulation.
Researchers who recently presented their findings at the 28th International Conference on Portable Information Processing and Networking Ali Abediand Deepak Vasishtthis setup” Wi-Peep‘. That might be a deceptively cute name for a project with such dire consequences.
Wi-Peep, which can manipulate information on Wi-Fi networks and use it to “see beyond walls”, or rather approximate the position of devices through unknown scanning, is what researchers say. location revealing privacy attackIt performs the application that it calls “.
The researchers say their devices take advantage of security flaws in IEEE 802.11, a longstanding wireless protocol for local access networks that has had issues with data capture and eavesdropping in the past. The program uses a technique known as the “time of flight” technique (ToF), which uses a data process system to measure the physical gap between a signal and an object.
All this, the researchers polite WiFiIt’s made possible by a vulnerability in many WiFi networks, which it calls ” contact trials” is ready to respond automatically. To manipulate this vulnerability, Wi-Peep uses devices with reasonable WiFi reinforcement within a reasonable building or area that attempt to establish a connection with local devices and subsequently ” hidden localization” emits a permissive ToF signal.
The nature of the device can certainly be evaluated through the information obtained from the MAC address, which is the unique identifier given to the devices in a network. In other words, this means that things like your smart TV, Amazon Echo, cell phone, laptop or other “smart” device can all be seen by the sneaky little spy.
Researchers envision rather spooky scenarios involving Wi-Peep’s collection of hidden data. Abedi and Vasisht concluded that a hacker armed with this device could potentially ” as it can locate occupants, security cameras and even residential intrusion sensors.“She’s worried.
They go one step further and offer an ideal thief scenario: A thief can use this information to find valuables such as laptops and track their smartphones or smartwatches to identify ideal opportunities when people are away from home or away from an area (for example, when everyone is in the basement).”
During the Abedi presentation, the vehicle’s “ It can be used to monitor the movements of security officers inside a bank by tracking the position of their phones or smart watches.” and added: “ In similar form, a thief can identify the position and type of smart devices in a dwelling, including security cameras, laptops, and smart TVs, to find a good candidate to break in. In addition, the fact that the device works with a drone means that the user can be used quickly and remotely without much chance of being detected.”
Abedi and Vasisht say they hope their research will lead to the development of more appropriate defenses for WiFi protocols so that future iterations will not be as vulnerable as current ones. Researchers, ” We hope that our study will positively influence the design of the next generation protocols.” says.
