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Anyone who is tech savvy enough to be on Hacker News isn't going to be shocked. However MOST people don't understand the technology. As the resident IT person

Anyone who is tech savvy enough to be on Hacker News isn't going to be shocked. However MOST people don't understand the technology. As the resident IT person in my family/friends, I've been asked about this sort of thing on a regular basis. Everytime I talk them through the convenience vs security. Without fail people are surprised by the idea of being easy to "jam" wifi. Even some of the tech savvy don't realize how cheap it is to build a deauther. I can get ESP8266 units for less than $2 each and load up pre-made deauth firmware from Github in a matter of minutes.

kortex 4y ago
Heck, I've seen some projects involving trying to diy short range digital comms accidentally turn into a jammer which will mess with anything in the 2.4Ghz band. All it takes is a VCO and the wrong (or right, depending on purpose) circuit attached to it. Deauth is a little more finesse, but barely.
- hellojesus 4y ago
  I have a USB to vga device that harmonics into the GPS spectrum, allowing me to broadcast false GPS chords. It amazes me that most people overlook the ease at which their frontline defense can be thwarted.
dehrmann 4y ago
> Without fail people are surprised by the idea of being easy to "jam" wifi. Don't they at least remember all the times it cuts out on them?
- Gigachad 4y ago
  No, I can’t even remember the last time my home wifi stopped working.
autoexec 4y ago
> However MOST people don't understand the technology. More than that, people are being intentionally mislead by Amazon who is well aware of the massive vulnerabilities their products have, but still advertise their devices as being secure and able to protect the customer. They even have police going door to door shilling for them. It's perfectly reasonable for people to believe tech companies and Officer Friendly when they both say a ring camera is a smart purchase and they should buy one. They should feel betrayed when they find out they bought a device that's trivial to bypass and the best Amazon has to offer by way of a solution is that they waste their time calling customer support who can do nothing for them.

kortex 4y ago

Heck, I've seen some projects involving trying to diy short range digital comms accidentally turn into a jammer which will mess with anything in the 2.4Ghz band. All it takes is a VCO and the wrong (or right, depending on purpose) circuit attached to it. Deauth is a little more finesse, but barely.

hellojesus 4y ago
I have a USB to vga device that harmonics into the GPS spectrum, allowing me to broadcast false GPS chords. It amazes me that most people overlook the ease at which their frontline defense can be thwarted.

dehrmann 4y ago

> Without fail people are surprised by the idea of being easy to "jam" wifi. Don't they at least remember all the times it cuts out on them?

Gigachad 4y ago
No, I can’t even remember the last time my home wifi stopped working.

autoexec 4y ago

> However MOST people don't understand the technology. More than that, people are being intentionally mislead by Amazon who is well aware of the massive vulnerabilities their products have, but still advertise their devices as being secure and able to protect the customer. They even have police going door to door shilling for them. It's perfectly reasonable for people to believe tech companies and Officer Friendly when they both say a ring camera is a smart purchase and they should buy one. They should feel betrayed when they find out they bought a device that's trivial to bypass and the best Amazon has to offer by way of a solution is that they waste their time calling customer support who can do nothing for them.