This Wi-Fi security flaw lets drones track you through walls

A research team from the University of Waterloo has attached a device to a drone that can uses vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi networks to see through walls.

Imagine intruders being able to track people by the devices they have on them or find weak spots in their homes. This alarming possibility has been proven by a device called Wi-Peep, which is essentially $20 of easily-purchasable hardware, an off-the-shelf quadcopter, and the work of Dr. Ali Abedi and his team at the University of Waterloo.

The way Wi-Peep works is quite simple — it flies right up to a building, then starts exploiting the inhabitant’s Wi-Fi network (through what many call the Polite Wi-Fi loophole), and locates all Wi-Fi-connected devices inside in seconds. Wi-Peep is thus able to identify the location of individual devices down to 1 meter (3.3 feet) by sending several message packets to each device and measuring the response time on each. Apparently, this method also works with password-protected networks,…