Locate Any WiFi Router By Its MAC Address

coderrr writes "SkyHook Wireless has been wardriving the US for years creating a huge database mapping wireless routers' MAC addresses to their physical locations. They provide an minimally documented API (docs here) which allows anyone to query the database directly for any MAC address. This could potentially allow some malicious individual to find out exactly where you live. Of course for them to get the MAC of your router in most cases will require either being infected with malware or some sort of social engineering attack... Imagine if you got a phishing email that included your home address."

Comments

Security

[Anonymous Coward]

This is exactly why it's a *good* idea to steal internet access from the neighbors.

Re:Security

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

My niece asked me this, should she jump on someone elses WiFi, but this happened right after the big kerfuffle about the DNS hack.

You realize that you're giving all your data and control over to a machine that you don't control. You hope that it's open because the person is either an idiot or a good guy, but you have no evidence of either at that point. Even something as simple as checking your mail might give people access to your inbox, and all the 'password reset' notices you get.

Quick!

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone tell San Francisco!

Re:Legality of this

[Sethb]

Yep, there's even a company called Navizon that's building a competing service to Skyhook, yet they pay individuals to collect the MAC addresses (as well as Cell tower IDs) with their GPS-equipped devices, so that those without GPS can still obtain their location. It integrates with the new Fire Eagle software/service from Yahoo too.

Here's a link (with my referral code inserted): Navizon

Skyhook has zero data in the city I live in, though I did eventually figure out how you could submit a MAC and coordinates to their system, and fed mine in, so at least my iPhone-owning friends will know where they are when they're at my house...

Re:Legality of this

[ElectricTurtle]

That, and MACs aren't a serial number per se (granted blocks of them are assigned to specific manufacturers, but there's a reason that network hardware devices always have S/Ns in addition to MACs), they are ADDRESSES. They are SUPPOSED TO BE KNOWN. It makes no sense that people would freak out about somebody knowing the MAC address of their wireless but not the street address on their mailbox. Oh noes! Somebody might use their 31337 h4x0ring skillz to send me spam and phishing attacks to my interweb mail! Like they don't already? Somebody could send a pipe bomb to your physical mailbox too. Better hide that address, oh wait, you can't.

Stop scaring the sheeple. I know it's kind of fun, but it's bad in the long term. That's how we get stupid legislation like banning wardriving or public access points/mandatory encryption.