Underseer
Contributor
[YOUTUBE]UeAKTjx_eKA[/YOUTUBE]
Pretty cool stuff. A Reddit user found a bunch of Raspberry Pi devices around a school library, each with a Wi-Fi dongle. Suspecting a man-in-the-middle attack, he got in contact with a security expert who made the video. He explains the process by which he determined the function of the devices, which turn out to have been a student project for something a lot of businesses do: scan and catalog the number of smart devices in a given area so that you can estimate how many people are in a given part of your establishment at any given time.
I figured a lot of people around here have teenagers, and this might be a fun video to watch with teens, and then have a discussion about security at public Wi-Fi (use VPN if you have it!), as well as a discussion about some of the cool things that can be done by tinkerers at home if you know your way around LINUX and have a little programming skill.
Perhaps if you run a business that offers free public Wi-Fi, you might want to keep an eye out for such devices just in case someone is using your establishment to prey on you or your customers.
If you ever do a student project like this, maybe label your devices so that people don't think you're skimming credit card numbers or something nefarious?
Pretty cool stuff. A Reddit user found a bunch of Raspberry Pi devices around a school library, each with a Wi-Fi dongle. Suspecting a man-in-the-middle attack, he got in contact with a security expert who made the video. He explains the process by which he determined the function of the devices, which turn out to have been a student project for something a lot of businesses do: scan and catalog the number of smart devices in a given area so that you can estimate how many people are in a given part of your establishment at any given time.
- I'm not a security guy, so I didn't even consider the possibility of using a large number of cheap Raspberry Pi devices for something like a MitM attack on users at public Wi-fi.
- It's a pretty cool example of some of the weird things one can do with a bunch of super cheap and tiny computers.
- I know a little teeny tiny bit about LINUX, which probably made the video more confusing for me than if I knew nothing about LINUX. I'm clearly one of those "knows just enough to be dangerous" people.
I figured a lot of people around here have teenagers, and this might be a fun video to watch with teens, and then have a discussion about security at public Wi-Fi (use VPN if you have it!), as well as a discussion about some of the cool things that can be done by tinkerers at home if you know your way around LINUX and have a little programming skill.
Perhaps if you run a business that offers free public Wi-Fi, you might want to keep an eye out for such devices just in case someone is using your establishment to prey on you or your customers.
If you ever do a student project like this, maybe label your devices so that people don't think you're skimming credit card numbers or something nefarious?