A research team from the University of Waterloo was able to detect a vulnerability in a protocol widely used in wireless networks;
Through a drone-powered tool that uses Wi-Fi networks to penetrate walls and locate devices and people inside buildings.
The device, called Wi-Peep, can fly near buildings and then use the building's occupants' Wi-Fi network to quickly identify any Wi-Fi-enabled devices, and then learn the residents' movements inside the building without even entering to the building.
The study was presented at the 28th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, and published by the university on its website.
According to the university’s website, We-Pip takes advantage of a loophole that researchers refer to as the “polite” Wi-Fi network. This network will immediately accept any connection attempts from smart devices within range of the network, even if the network is password-protected. According to a University of Waterloo report.
We-Beep uses several messages to communicate with the target device while it is in the air, as it measures the reaction time of each message to locate the target device inside the building.
"We-Beeb devices are like lights in the visible spectrum, and make walls look like glass," said Dr. Ali Obeidi, assistant professor of computer science, in an interview with the university's website.
On the importance of discovering this vulnerability through We-Pip, Abedi says, “Using a similar technology, one can track the movements of security guards within the bank by tracking the location of their phones or smart watches. Similarly, a thief can determine the location and type of smart devices in the home, including That includes security cameras, laptops, smart TVs, to find a good target for a break-in. Plus, operating the device via a drone means it can be used quickly and remotely without much chance of user detection."
Using "We-Pip", the thief can determine the location and type of smart devices in the house (Al-Jazeera)
cheap ingredients
We-Beep was created by Abidi's team using a rudimentary drone they bought from a $20 store of cheap components.
"Once we discovered this vulnerability in Wi-Fi networks, we realized that this type of attack was possible," Abedi explains.
To prove their theory, the team developed the We-Beep, but soon realized that anyone with the necessary skills could make a similar device with the same simplicity.
"At the most basic level, we need to fix the Wi-Fi vulnerability so that our devices don't respond to strangers," Abedi explained. "We hope that our discovery of this vulnerability will contribute to the design of next-generation protocols."
We-pipe exploits loopholes in the 802.11 protocol (a globally agreed set of wireless networking standards) to get responses from Wi-Fi devices on a network we can't reach.
It then uses those responses to plot a new response time graph to pinpoint the exact location of these devices. The device, placed on a lightweight drone flying over a house, can estimate the location of Wi-Fi devices across multiple floors with great accuracy.