A research team from the Canadian University of Waterloo has developed a small device called the Wi-Peep. Mounted on a drone it gives him the ability to see through the walls of buildings. I link the study here.
The aircraft equipped with Wi-Peep becomes a sort of "electronic bat" that locates (with reasonable precision) all the WiFi stations within its range.
See through walls with WiFi
The ability of Wi-Peep exploits a known technological weakness of wireless modems: the so-called "Polite WiFi". In practice, even if a network is protected by a password, a modem always automatically responds to contact attempts from any other device that "interrogates" it.
Wi-Peep does just that: as it flies, it sends several messages to different WiFi hubs and then measures the response time of each, allowing it to identify the location of hubs (including those beyond the walls) within just one meter.
What can it do?
"Wi-Peep devices can, in fact, see through walls," reiterates the doctor But Abedi, who led the research. "using a similar technology, for example, it is possible to track with one or more drones the movements of security guards inside a bank by following the position of their phones or smartwatches ".
Similarly, a thief could identify the location and type of smart devices in a home. Including, of course, the security cameras. Using it through a drone would also ensure the ability to operate remotely. Ok: I am not currently receiving "beneficial" applications. Indeed, one.
Test the vulnerabilities of our systems
Not a bad idea, right? It would be a super quick diagnostic tool, and I guess this is a useful and legal way to use it. After all, the polite WiFi nature needs to be corrected somehow.
And a valuable "flying advisor" like Wi-Peep can contribute to designing better protocols.
Researchers they also suggested short-term solutions to secure our networks.
With great powers comes great responsibilities.
