Sniff Wi-Fi

Chatty smartphones have been an issue for years.  Whether you're concerned with security or performance  (or both), the amount of Probing being done by unconnected iPhones, Galaxies and the like has been worrisome.   Today, things have changed.  Smartphones don't Probe as much.  This is probably for the better, but there could be a catch. I'm an Apple guy.  Even when I was using PCs in college (things were different back in the 90's , I tell ya), it was always because they were free.  Once I finally had to buy a computer, I went straight to the very first iBook in 2001.  I own an iPod, iPad, iPhone and MacBook Air.  My next computing purchase will probably be an iMac (to better record those promised-but-not-yet-delivered online training videos on WiFi that I touted six months ago).  So, I like the company.  And I like bashing its competitors sometimes.  (Not my most magnanimous trait, but nobody's perfect.) I liked poi...

Happy (belated) Cinco de Mayo!  In honor of Mexico (whose El Tri I actually like a heck of a lot less than Les Bleus ), today's discussion of Guerra de Conduccíon has a Spanish language title.   As noted by noted sarcastor Keith R. "The R Stands for Reassociation" Parsons , in some ways wardriving is a topic whose time has passed.  We've known about it for years.  Wardriving tells hackers where your network is.  Most WiFi networks are encrypted.  What else is there?  Hackers can try to connect, but if you use a long WPA2 Personal passphrase , they won't be able to.  Hackers can try to sniff, but if you're using WPA2 Enterprise, then decryption of data frames is impossible (as far as us non-NSA employees know). But imagine you are an NSA employee.  Or the CEO of a noted defense contractor .  Or holder of some other high-profile job where the nation's prosperity is dependent on your secrecy (like USC's head football coach). ...