The WiFi Coconut is a routers evil twin

Wi-Fi is how most people connect to the internet most of the time — but from a security standpoint, it’s a remarkably wobbly foundation.

We treat Wi-Fi connections like hardened tunnels to wherever we’re connecting on the internet, but there’s nothing inherently private about the signal. Wi-Fi is just radio, and like any radio, the signals go out in all directions all the time. Anyone with the right antenna can listen to what’s being broadcast, and it’s nearly impossible to tell that they’re doing it. Even more dangerous, anyone can offer Wi-Fi, so it’s hard to be absolutely sure who you’re connecting to. This is why hardened systems like SecureDrop often pull out a computer’s Wi-Fi card completely. Without wireless capability, the...

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