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Groups > comp.sys.mac.system > #94866

Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk?

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Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> wrote:
> 
> In article <e50l0fFig7jU1@mid.individual.net>,
> Jolly Roger  <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
>> Davoud <star@sky.net> wrote:
>>> I opened my iPhone's WiFi settings to choose a different one of my
>>> several wireless networks, all of which have hidden SSIDs. I saw the
>>> message "Using a hidden network can expose personally identifiable
>>> information. Configure your router to broadcast this network."
>>> 
>>> Huh? What personal information?
>>> 
>>> I'm not laboring under any delusions about hidden SSIDs providing a lot
>>> of extra security‹I do that with proper passwords‹but I wasn't
>>> expecting to see that a hidden SSID may compromise security.
>> 
>> iOS and macOS remember the SSIDs of each network to which you connect.
>> Later, when the device scans for available networks, they broadcast those
>> SSIDs (including hidden ones) as part of the probe. The owner of a network
>> with a hidden SSID might not want that hidden SSID to be seen in those
>> probes, which is what that message is about.
> 
> If they broadcast the SSIDs of both open and hidden networks, why doesn't
> the message say something like, "Using a hidden network does not protect 
> the privacy of all personally identifiable information"? The existing 
> message makes it seem as though hidden networks are a greater security 
> risk than open ones.

The person who is running the hidden network is the one who should be
concerned that their hidden SSID is broadcasted. For the person connecting
to the network it really doesn't matter whether it's hidden or not - nor
does it matter whether the SSID is broadcast. So personally I wouldn't
display a message at all on iOS.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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Thread

Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Davoud <star@sky.net> - 2016-09-27 21:20 -0400
  Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-09-27 21:27 -0400
    Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-28 01:38 +0000
  Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-28 01:34 +0000
    Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-09-27 21:36 -0400
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-28 02:08 +0000
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> - 2016-09-28 04:40 +0000
          Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? befr@eaglesoft.de (Bernd Fröhlich) - 2016-09-28 08:59 +0200
            Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> - 2016-09-30 01:27 +0000
              Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Davoud <star@sky.net> - 2016-09-30 13:20 -0400
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? "Happy.Hobo" <Happy.Hobo@Spam.Invalid> - 2016-09-28 12:40 -0500
          Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-28 17:46 +0000
    Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Patty Winter <patty1@wintertime.com> - 2016-09-28 04:39 +0000
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2016-09-28 05:03 +0000
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Alan Browne <alan.browne@freelunchvideotron.ca> - 2016-09-28 20:07 -0400
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-28 16:41 +0000
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2016-09-28 13:32 -0400
          Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Alan Browne <alan.browne@freelunchvideotron.ca> - 2016-09-28 20:11 -0400
    Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Alan Browne <alan.browne@freelunchvideotron.ca> - 2016-09-28 20:05 -0400
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Davoud <star@sky.net> - 2016-09-28 23:22 -0400
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-29 04:06 +0000
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-29 04:06 +0000
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2016-09-29 15:47 -0400
          Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-29 21:01 +0000
            Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2016-09-29 18:10 -0400
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? "Happy.Hobo" <Happy.Hobo@Spam.Invalid> - 2016-09-29 16:39 -0500
  Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Alan Browne <alan.browne@freelunchvideotron.ca> - 2016-09-28 19:59 -0400
    Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-29 00:20 +0000
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Alan Browne <alan.browne@freelunchvideotron.ca> - 2016-09-28 20:39 -0400
      Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? "Happy.Hobo" <Happy.Hobo@Spam.Invalid> - 2016-09-29 16:47 -0500
        Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-29 21:54 +0000
          Re: Hidden SSID is Security Risk? Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2016-09-29 21:56 +0000

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