Mobile Devices - WiFi
Some of the Privacy & Security risks with WiFi on Mobile Devices:
- Domestic or Foreign intelligence agencies usually do not spy on you directly, they use & abuse the massive Commercial / Private Sector / Domestic WiFi infrastructure
- Provided you do not exceed the radio transmission power levels, there is no regulation of WiFi
- i.e. snoopers have equal rights to use the same WiFi signals & protocols that you do
- Some devices, sort of, periodically randomise MAC addresses e.g. Apple IoS, but not if they are probing for an Out of Range SSID access point connection i.e. your Home or Work Access Point
- Connecting to multiple Access Points or to those with characteristic Serial Numbers or unique SSID names makes your device easy to track even in massive surveillance datasets
What you can do to reduce the risk of being traced by WiFi when on the move, especially to meet with contacts:
- Disable WiFi (& BlueTooth) on your mobile device before you leave home or work (also saves battery)
- Do not enable Connect Automatically
- Check you have not enabled advanced persistent WiFi settings
- WiFi on whilst in sleep mode
- Automatically connect to Open Networks
- Use common SSID at home or work without router serial number i.e. change VM123456 to Virgin Media
- Change your WiFi Router default admin password
- It is easy for attackers to change the SSID of their own "Evil Twin" WiFi access points to something plausible e.g. McDonalds Free WiFi to try a Man-In-The-Middle attack on you.
- Only use encrypted https:// web connections if you are logging in to email or banking or e-commerce sites
- Use a commercial or private Virtual Private Network VPN if using public "Free" WiFi
Email & PGP Contact
Please feel free to email your views about this blog, or news about the issues it tries to comment on.
Our PGP public encryption key is available for those correspondents who wish to send us news or information in confidence, and also for those of you who value your privacy, even if you have got nothing to hide.
You can download a free copy of the PGP encryption software from www.pgpi.org
(available for most of the common computer operating systems, and also in various Open Source versions like GPG).
We look forward to the day when UK Government Legislation, Press Releases and Emails etc. are Digitally Signed so that we can be assured that they are not fakes. Trusting that the digitally signed content makes any sense, is another matter entirely.
Campaign Button Links
UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign
NO2ID Campaign - cross party opposition to the NuLabour Compulsory Biometric ID Card and National Identity Register centralised database.
Gary McKinnon is facing extradition to the USA under the controversial Extradition Act 2003, without any prima facie evidence or charges brought against him in a UK court. Try him here in the UK, under UK law.
FreeFarid.com- - Kafkaesque extradition of Farid Hilali under the European Arrest Warrant to Spain
Parliament Protest blog - resistance to the Designated Area restricting peaceful demonstrations or lobbying in the vicinity of Parliament.
Data Retention is No Solution
Petition to the European Commission and European Parliament against their vague Data Retention plans.
Renew For Freedom - renew your Passport in the Summer Autumn of 2006.
The Big Opt Out Campaign - opt out of having your NHS Care Record medical records and personal details stored insecurely on a massive national centralised database.
Tor - the onion routing network - "Tor aims to defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers called onion routers, protecting you from websites that build profiles of your interests, local eavesdroppers that read your data or learn what sites you visit, and even the onion routers themselves."
Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor - useful Guide published by Global Voices Advocacy with step by step software configuration screenshots (updated March 10th 2009).
Amnesty International's irrepressible.info campaign
BlogSafer - wiki with multilingual guides to anonymous blogging
NGO in a box - Security Edition privacy and security software tools
Home Office Watch blog, "a single repository of all the shambolic errors and mistakes made by the British Home Office compiled from Parliamentary Questions, news reports, and tip-offs by the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs team."
Reporters Without Borders - Reporters Sans Frontières - campaign for journalists 'and bloggers' freedom in repressive countries and war zones.
Committee to Protect Bloggers - "devoted to the protection of bloggers worldwide with a focus on highlighting the plight of bloggers threatened and imprisoned by their government."
Wikileaks.org - the controversial "uncensorable, anonymous whistleblowing" website based currently in Sweden.
Public Concern at Work - "(PCaW) is the independent authority on public interest whistleblowing. Established as a charity in 1993 following a series of scandals and disasters, PCaW has played a leading role in putting whistleblowing on the governance agenda and in developing legislation in the UK and abroad. All our work is informed by the free advice we offer to people with whistleblowing dilemmas and the professional support we provide to enlightened organisations."