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Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

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Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#241

Post by MichaelGG »

lutusp wrote: post #238
MichaelGG wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK so in the case of a "normal" lost password then how is it that it's safe on Apple's servers? That is, if it's not encrypted with a key derived from your password, then Apple can still decrypt.

> OK so in the case of a "normal" lost password then how is it that it's safe on Apple's servers? In a word, it isn't. The new password is no more nor less safe than the old one. Or are you asking about the data, not the password? Pretty much the same answer.

OK, so Apple is in the same boat as Google. If you can reset your password and still access your data, then it wasn't encrypted in any meaningful way.

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#242

Post by magicalist »

grandalf wrote: post #196
DannyBee wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Google's legal initiatives are largely just naked lobbying for its own corporate interest. SOPA in particular.' This is where I stopped reading. I personally know all of the people at Google involved in doing SOPA, and you have literally no idea what you are talking about. You are talking about a group of people mostly from places like EFF, Creative Commons, and other wonderful orgs. They do it because they want to…

You are talking about a group of people mostly from places like EFF, Creative Commons, and other wonderful orgs. They do it because they want to make the world better, and because it's the right thing to do. Maybe you are too cynical and jaded to do something like that, but they aren't. Your opinions have zero basis in fact. There is a difference between the people Google has employed to do the work and the corporate…

> But you don't see Google funding advocacy groups for initiatives that don't have a corresponding corporate benefit.

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2190617/Googles-Legaliz...

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#243

Post by CUViper »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #172
guelo wrote: post #134

Your WiFi password is only useful for someone who is within 100 feet of your house. If you have federal agents surveilling you from 100 feet away you have way bigger problems than your WiFi password.

Actually its from further away than that with a high gain directional antenna (I've hit WiFi hot spots about a mile distant using same) but the point is that they can do this from outside your property. You would probably know if someone was in your house but you'd be hard pressed to notice a Yagi antenna pointed at your window from across the street or down the block a bit. That said, I read the article more as 'yet…

In OpenWrt there is a "Distance Optimization" field, described, "Distance to farthest network member in meters." I would guess this allows some assumptions about the raw timing of transmission through the air, which no antenna could overcome. However, since it's just called an optimization, not a security feature, I'm not sure of the actual effect. Do you know if this really changes your long-range scenario?

For my specific setup, it's something of a moot point. With my home office and router at the front of the house, a distance enough to include the back yard will also include a fair chuck of the street. It may be close enough that I'd notice the suspicious vehicle, though.

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#244

Post by nevi-me »

Mindless2112 wrote: post #239
dlitz wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's basically true, though. Google install arbitrary Android apps on nearly any Android phone without user interaction. Source: If you log in to https://play.google.com from a desktop computer, you can install apps on your phone. You get the permissions dialog on the website (on your desktop computer), not on your phone.

Also, if you have the Google Play Store then you have Google Play Services which auto-updates without user interaction or notification and has almost unrestricted access to the device.

Well, good thing that we have Android Police and their teardowns acting as a control, that way they'll spot something when Google pushes an NSA trojan to Play Services. /s?

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#245

Post by moocowduckquack »

guelo wrote: post #134

Your WiFi password is only useful for someone who is within 100 feet of your house. If you have federal agents surveilling you from 100 feet away you have way bigger problems than your WiFi password.

I used to get my wifi from over 2 kilometers away with a satellite dish and a usb dongle.

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#246

Post by anamexis »

eric_the_read wrote: post #240
oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's spelt "government". Spelling it "Gubment" doesn't suddenly turn everyone who's reading your comment against the notion of an elected democracy, it just makes you look stupid. And the reason that it's much scarier if private companies abuse privacy than if the government does it, is that you yourself decide who the government is. You don't get that right wrt a private company.

If we're getting cranky about spelling, it's "spelled". Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat. "Gubment" is pretty silly, though.

As long as we're continuing to be cranky about spelling, "spelt" is a perfectly valid British spelling of the past participle of spell.

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#247

Post by ihateaccount »

eric_the_read wrote: post #240
oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's spelt "government". Spelling it "Gubment" doesn't suddenly turn everyone who's reading your comment against the notion of an elected democracy, it just makes you look stupid. And the reason that it's much scarier if private companies abuse privacy than if the government does it, is that you yourself decide who the government is. You don't get that right wrt a private company.

If we're getting cranky about spelling, it's "spelled". Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat. "Gubment" is pretty silly, though.

Spelt is the correct spelling in British English (and most of the commonwealth). There is a vast world outside the US too.

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=SPELT%2BSpelt%2...

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#248

Post by stephengillie »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #207
ChuckMcM wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually its from further away than that with a high gain directional antenna (I've hit WiFi hot spots about a mile distant using same) but the point is that they can do this from outside your property. You would probably know if someone was in your house but you'd be hard pressed to notice a Yagi antenna pointed at your window from across the street or down the block a bit. That said, I read the article more as 'yet…

For those wondering this looks like the antenna I have : http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/wifi-antennas/point-to-point-... and we use it for its "intended" purpose which is getting on to the wifi of the camp host at a camp ground :-)

And similar performance can be had from a 46oz can of soup or chili (retail value: $1.59), with a 1.25" wire sticking through about 1.25" away from the back end, as the antenna for a wifi adapter. #cantenna

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#249

Post by moocowduckquack »

eric_the_read wrote: post #240
oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's spelt "government". Spelling it "Gubment" doesn't suddenly turn everyone who's reading your comment against the notion of an elected democracy, it just makes you look stupid. And the reason that it's much scarier if private companies abuse privacy than if the government does it, is that you yourself decide who the government is. You don't get that right wrt a private company.

If we're getting cranky about spelling, it's "spelled". Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat. "Gubment" is pretty silly, though.

I dunno, is an intentional phonetically accurate representation of dialect rather than being a mispelling, a bit like Yorkshire's t'internet.

Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

#250

Post by srollyson »

Fixnum wrote: post #162
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loathe whenever people post that comic for one simple reason. Although mathematically the password given in the comic has a higher entropy and would take more time to crack under normal circumstances, the problem is that it follows a very simple and easily describable pattern: smash (four) dictionary words together into a combination. Crackers will simply start using wordlist rules to generate large lists of meshed…

The point is you're supposed to use truly random word combinations since those are at least memorable. $ wc -l /usr/share/dict/words 119095 $ python -c 'print(119095 ** 4)' 201175048646341950625 $ python -c 'print(85 ** 10)' 19687440434072265625 So, even if your target is known to be using this scheme in pure form, this has more entropy than a completely random 10-digit password (assuming ~85 characters) -- and who w…

Can never turn down an opportunity for a one-liner.

  $ perl -E 'open(my $fh, "; close $fh; say join " ", map {$words[int rand @words]} 1..4'
  menu chemists administrative seeps
Might have to run it a couple of times before you get something that you can memorize.
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