4 ms·

>wifi network mirroring is smart Yep, so smart that I used to name my WiFi “McDonald’s Free WiFi” when I lived half a block from McDonald’s. Everyone’s phones

>wifi network mirroring is smart Yep, so smart that I used to name my WiFi “McDonald’s Free WiFi” when I lived half a block from McDonald’s. Everyone’s phones would connect but to my goatse’d image network. I thought devices would start remembering the base station MAC addresses to avoid hijacking but I guess not.. maybe I should start doing this again at my local Home Depot Edit: just remembered I used to do this on planes too. I would MiTM the AP and people would connect to my WiFi device. Then I would serve an obvious incorrect Bank of America page. No one logged in to it though :(

hnbear 3y ago
I really meant the choice to use it here, not the implementation of how it works.
userbinator 3y ago
I thought devices would start remembering the base station MAC addresses to avoid hijacking The use of multiple APs with the same SSID is a feature, not a bug. It enables roaming between them.
- oldbbsnickname 3y ago
  Creating rogue APs is criminal-adjacent, unethical behavior because it denies and interferes with a network. It could even be criminalized in some jurisdictions.
  - mensetmanusman 3y ago
    Tell that to Xfinity.
    - olyjohn 3y ago
      Well they are exempt from most laws.
    - oldbbsnickname 3y ago
      Comcast can die screaming, fiery deaths with rapid reincarnation between them. The were the only ISP in a certain suburban wooded area. During planned power outages they would go out after ~16 hours because they failed to engineer survivability (choice of electrical circuits and backup power) as the cell phone networks, municipal water, and other critical services did.
- deathanatos 3y ago
  … I suppose an unprotected network is always unprotected, but it is still possible¹ to have AP roaming while detecting that you're switching to a different network of APs, even if the name is the same. ¹within a protocol design "possible". WiFi can't, AFAIK, actually do it.
  - hunter2_ 3y ago
    The client could be made to drop a connection if various things are too different (default gateway not matching, for example) but it would be pretty janky with false positives and false negatives...

hnbear 3y ago

I really meant the choice to use it here, not the implementation of how it works.

userbinator 3y ago

I thought devices would start remembering the base station MAC addresses to avoid hijacking The use of multiple APs with the same SSID is a feature, not a bug. It enables roaming between them.

oldbbsnickname 3y ago
Creating rogue APs is criminal-adjacent, unethical behavior because it denies and interferes with a network. It could even be criminalized in some jurisdictions.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago
  Tell that to Xfinity.
  - olyjohn 3y ago
    Well they are exempt from most laws.
  - oldbbsnickname 3y ago
    Comcast can die screaming, fiery deaths with rapid reincarnation between them. The were the only ISP in a certain suburban wooded area. During planned power outages they would go out after ~16 hours because they failed to engineer survivability (choice of electrical circuits and backup power) as the cell phone networks, municipal water, and other critical services did.
deathanatos 3y ago
… I suppose an unprotected network is always unprotected, but it is still possible¹ to have AP roaming while detecting that you're switching to a different network of APs, even if the name is the same. ¹within a protocol design "possible". WiFi can't, AFAIK, actually do it.
- hunter2_ 3y ago
  The client could be made to drop a connection if various things are too different (default gateway not matching, for example) but it would be pretty janky with false positives and false negatives...