Why Your Wi-Fi Router Doubles as an Apple Air Tag
Summary: University of Maryland researchers David Levin and Erik Rye found that Apple's Wi-Fi Positioning System API returns the geolocations of up to 400 nearby BSSIDs per query, letting them map more than two billion Wi-Fi access points between November 2022 and November 2023, including at least 3,722 Starlink terminals in Ukraine. Starlink said it began randomizing router BSSIDs in early 2023 and is deploying repeater randomization fleet-wide, while Apple in March 2024 updated its policy to let anyone opt out by appending "_nomap" to a network's name.
Key Takeaway: Every access point in range of any Apple device is indexed without its owner's consent, so a router's presence alone can disclose the location of someone fleeing a stalker or a military unit's pre-deployment site.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
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