top of page

'Rick's Tricks' are a treat:finding an iPhone when it's misplaced

You can use your own phone’s tethering feature to spin up a WiFi network with the same name and password as a home network and wander around to see if anything connects. Eventually, a connection can be made and the missing phone will probably be discovered.



This is a super cool way to find a missing phone and could be useful for anyone going through a similar situation, it is a reminder about the dangers of WiFi. Specifically, Isaía executed an “evil twin” attack where they set up a WiFi network to spoof another one and collect some sort of information. Though this is not likely to happen in the outback of Argentina, take a moment to think about all the public WiFi connections you have used that do not have a password. From coffee shops to airlines and everything in between, it would not take much to spoof that WiFi network and pass all network traffic through an attacker-controlled server in an effort to steal sensitive data or information.


Of course, this is less of a concern if you are on encrypted websites indicated by HTTPS versus HTTP, and even more so if you use a VPN on any public WiFi network to double down on personal security. However, it might be worthwhile simply turning off auto-connecting WiFi even though it would break this method of finding a missing device.


In any event, spooling up a WiFi network is a genius way to find your own devices, provided you understand the risks. It is this kind of thinking that not only provides clever solutions to problems but also enhances security.

Comentarios


bottom of page