Wifi outage allows you to see through the wall of your house

Posted On: November 12, 2022

Researchers Reveal a Security Flaw in Wi-Fi Protocols That Allows a Device Attached to a Drone to ‘See Through Walls’ | Getty

In a society so dependent on technology, electronics and telecommunications, security has become a key element to protect our daily lives. Beyond the efficiency, speed and usefulness of the hundreds of electronic devices, computer equipment and telecommunications networks that we all use, it has also become an essential task to know and reveal their possible weaknesses. Every year the International Conference on Mobile, Computing and Networks where, in addition to presenting the latest advances and cutting-edge developments, the work of exposing errors and shortcomings in this field also occupies an important part of the presentations. And during the last edition of this MobiCom 2022, a worrying flaw in the security of uncooperative Wi-Fi devices was demonstrated.

Responsible for this presentation are two researchers from the Canadian University of Waterloo who they developed a device, powered by a drone, which “can use a home’s or building’s Wi-Fi networks to see through walls”. The development and its implications for privacy and security have been collected in a published article a few weeks ago in the minutes of the Conference itself.

Infographic of the operation of the device coupled to a drone | Abedi, Ali and Deepak Vasisht

They dubbed it “Wi-Peep”, a play on words that would mean something like “stealth observer via Wi-Fi”, a kind of voyeur who takes advantage of the loopholes of a specific protocol (802.11) of Wi-Fi devices. Done for get information about a network you don’t have access to. “Even if a network is password-protected, Wi-Fi devices automatically respond to contact attempts from any other device within range,” the authors explain in TechXplore. “Wi-peep sends multiple messages to a device while it flies the drone, then measures the response time of each, allowing it to pinpoint the device’s location with one-meter accuracy.”

The operation is so simple that it is disturbing not to have noticed this failure until now. The drone sends out signals and measures the response it gets… anyone or, in this case, a drone (which has better access outside of a home) can estimate the location of every Wifi in a building.

At first glance, one might think that knowing the location of certain devices and networks isn’t too much of a concern, until the authors themselves explain some of the apps and data that a would-be criminal might gain access to. “Using similar technology, anyone could track the movements of security guards inside a bank track the location of their phones or smart watches. Likewise, a thief could identify the location and even type of smart devices in a home, including the alarm and any security cameras, laptops or smart TVs, so you know where the juiciest loot is for a robbery. Plus, operating the device from a drone means it can be used quickly and remotely, allowing the burglar to plan their heist without even being near that house.”

This same team of researchers has already carried out various studies on the security vulnerability of Wi-Fi, but they had to use bulky and expensive devices. However, the new development for its accessibility and ease of transport and could be installed on even the most basic drones. In fact, the researchers performed the demonstration using a drone they purchased from a non-specialty store for around $20.

As soon as we discovered this flaw in Wi-Fi networks, we realized that this type of attack on privacy was possible and to prove it, we built the device and tested it in flight with a simple drone. At a fundamental level, we need to fix this flaw in Wi-Fi protocols so our devices don’t respond to strangers, and we hope our work will inform the design of more secure next-generation protocols. »