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A family members home was broken into, we checked the routers DHCP logs to determine what phones connected that day. We were able to determine the person AND t
by rcconf 7y ago
A family members home was broken into, we checked the routers DHCP logs to determine what phones connected that day.
We were able to determine the person AND the time it happened since an IP is only held on for 24 hours before being released. The person ended up being a friend that had connected to the WiFi in the past! (Yes, that friendship is very over.)
It was a real life CSI moment, and yes, criminals are generally oblivious to their phone identifying them! Good thing for my family member!
- tehlike 7y agoChanging my ssid to xfinitywifi.
- londons_explore 7y agoYou can log 802.11 probe request packets. That will give you information about most phones nearby even if they don't connect to your network. Very useful in case of a theft. You can get a list of WiFi access points the thief normally connects to, which can give you clues where they live or work. Legality of such logging is dubious. The packets were technically sent directed to everyone nearby, unencrypted, with the intent that your router would receive them. But the information they contain is typically pretty private, and it's unlikely the human sender knows they are sending you this info, let alone that you are storing it.