Researchers at the University of Waterloo, Ontario have created a scanning drone that can triangulate the location of every Wi-Fi connected device inside any given residence.
The researchers credited with creating this new drone, Ali Abedi and Deepak Vasisht, recently presented their findings at the 28th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking. They had named this device ‘Wi-Peep’.
The ‘Wi-Peep’ “engages in what researchers call a ‘location-revealing privacy attack’ that can manipulate the data and Wi-Fi networks and use it to ‘see through walls.’
How Does it Function?
According to the researchers, the drop exploits security deficiencies in IEEE 802.11; which is a longstanding wireless protocol for local access networks that is known to have a history of data interception and eavesdropping issues. The drone’s software deploys a ‘time-of-flight’ (ToF) technique which uses a data manipulation trick to measure the physical distance between a signal and an object.
Moreover, this becomes possible due to a security ‘loophole’ in Wi-Fi networks. Generally, all smart devices are ‘primed to automatically’ respond to ‘contact attempts’ from other devices in their area despite them being secured via password protection. In order to manipulate this ‘thinning’ in the security, Wi-Peep emits a ToF signal that attempts to “make contact with local devices and subsequently allows for the ‘surreptitious localization’ of specific Wi-Fi powered devices within a particular building or area’ while the nature of the device can be assessed through MAC address.