5 ms·

Criminals (and cops and reporters...) aren't the most tech-savvy, so it's useful to know when possible attacks are actually used. Like, it took over a year (and

Criminals (and cops and reporters...) aren't the most tech-savvy, so it's useful to know when possible attacks are actually used. Like, it took over a year (and it going viral on TikTok) for thieves outside Milwaukee to catch on that late model Kia/Hyundais are as easy to steal as 90's Hondas. That said, I'm not convinced the criminals in this case jammed anything; she said hours were missing and car thieves aren't sticking around that long, and balaclavas are still cheap. And the techie "of course you need to hardwire everything" is extraordinarily unhelpful. Actually being useful would be spreading knowledge that deauth attacks can be prevented with 802.11w (even other posters here don't seem to know that!), and pointing out what supports that and how to enable it. Or promoting cameras with enough local storage to mitigate being disconnected for a half hour or so, which is also useful for power outages...

walterbell 4y ago
> deauth attacks can be prevented with 802.11w 802.11w is part of WPA3 in WiFi-6, which can still be attacked, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33089451 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33089451
londons_explore 4y ago
WiFi is trivial to jam... Just run a microwave with a pencil wedged in the door hinge and nobody will be using 2.4g WiFi anywhere in the same block. Deauth attacks are a distraction.
- brigade 4y ago
  Thank both of you for proving my point that you all will irrationally argue "any even marginally imperfect security is completely and utterly pointless" in literally any context. Worrying about criminals jamming wifi is the distraction, because criminals definitely carry around microwaves and portable kilowatt power sources, or implement novel DoS attacks, all just to temporarily disconnect cameras that if it's competent, cached all the video locally anyway. Why not worry about criminals cutting mains power? That'd kill most wired cameras even harder than battery-powered wireless ones.
  - 6stringmerc 4y ago
    The criminals we don’t hear about because they don’t get caught go to great lengths to achieve their goals. As one person said, they have two jobs - committing the crime, and not making a mistake that can get them caught. It only takes one small slip up in most cases documented. I think it’s a great mental exercise akin to escape rooms or Tetris.
    - phpisthebest 4y ago
      >not making a mistake that can get them caught. Today in most areas (at least in the US) Normally that means just getting away without interacting with the cops at the moment sometimes not even that is required the defund police movement, bail reform, and many other political movements have more or less decriminalized property crime Unless you have a gun, are violent (sometimes not even then), or steal from a politically connected person chances are the police in the US will do nothing for normal everyday theft from a normal everyday person
      - aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
        At least you can shoot them in the US.
    - Tangurena2 4y ago
      It takes more than "one small slip up". It is my experience that local law enforcement put very little effort into solving property crime. The effort rises dramatically if the victim is a cop (or is related to one), a politician gets involved or the media reports on the crime. As one example, after my father died, people were using his credit cards and checkbook to steal money (until the Master Death File sent his details to banks). The police said that this crime was so common that they did not investigate (nor refer anything to the district attorney) when the theft is below $250k. A casual mention that dad was a volunteer cop, and had been for 9 years lit a fire under the police and they had investigated and arrested the perps within 2 weeks. One of the perps worked at his doctor's office and had access to his records (including payment details). She had plead to a lesser charge and when her parole officer visited her office and checked the office computer records, it turns out that he wasn't the only victim of this sort of thing (emptying dead people's bank accounts). Additionally, she was using the doctor's office computer to issue narcotics prescriptions that she also sold.

walterbell 4y ago

> deauth attacks can be prevented with 802.11w 802.11w is part of WPA3 in WiFi-6, which can still be attacked, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33089451 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33089451

londons_explore 4y ago

WiFi is trivial to jam... Just run a microwave with a pencil wedged in the door hinge and nobody will be using 2.4g WiFi anywhere in the same block. Deauth attacks are a distraction.

brigade 4y ago
Thank both of you for proving my point that you all will irrationally argue "any even marginally imperfect security is completely and utterly pointless" in literally any context. Worrying about criminals jamming wifi is the distraction, because criminals definitely carry around microwaves and portable kilowatt power sources, or implement novel DoS attacks, all just to temporarily disconnect cameras that if it's competent, cached all the video locally anyway. Why not worry about criminals cutting mains power? That'd kill most wired cameras even harder than battery-powered wireless ones.
- 6stringmerc 4y ago
  The criminals we don’t hear about because they don’t get caught go to great lengths to achieve their goals. As one person said, they have two jobs - committing the crime, and not making a mistake that can get them caught. It only takes one small slip up in most cases documented. I think it’s a great mental exercise akin to escape rooms or Tetris.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    >not making a mistake that can get them caught. Today in most areas (at least in the US) Normally that means just getting away without interacting with the cops at the moment sometimes not even that is required the defund police movement, bail reform, and many other political movements have more or less decriminalized property crime Unless you have a gun, are violent (sometimes not even then), or steal from a politically connected person chances are the police in the US will do nothing for normal everyday theft from a normal everyday person
    - aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
      At least you can shoot them in the US.
  - Tangurena2 4y ago
    It takes more than "one small slip up". It is my experience that local law enforcement put very little effort into solving property crime. The effort rises dramatically if the victim is a cop (or is related to one), a politician gets involved or the media reports on the crime. As one example, after my father died, people were using his credit cards and checkbook to steal money (until the Master Death File sent his details to banks). The police said that this crime was so common that they did not investigate (nor refer anything to the district attorney) when the theft is below $250k. A casual mention that dad was a volunteer cop, and had been for 9 years lit a fire under the police and they had investigated and arrested the perps within 2 weeks. One of the perps worked at his doctor's office and had access to his records (including payment details). She had plead to a lesser charge and when her parole officer visited her office and checked the office computer records, it turns out that he wasn't the only victim of this sort of thing (emptying dead people's bank accounts). Additionally, she was using the doctor's office computer to issue narcotics prescriptions that she also sold.