Why do we get rid of equipment incorrectly and how can we protect ourselves?
We never forget to delete your personal photos and messages before saying goodbye to your old computer or phone. However, there is another type of personal data that almost no one thinks about — these are the settings for connecting to your home Wi-Fi network.
Wi-Fi access has commercial value for attackers. The most harmless (albeit illegal) benefit is the ability to use the network of neighbors in order not to pay for communication yourself. Much less harmless is the theft of personal information: in the home network, devices trust each other, so it is not difficult to steal, for example, photos and documents.
It is even worse when Wi-Fi is hacked for illegal activities such as sending spam, extortion, or DDoS attacks. Criminals can exploit a vulnerable device (router, network storage, or camera) as a proxy server. Of course, the main damage is borne by the owners: the Internet is slower, IP is blacklisted. The user may face a block from the provider or even a visit from the police.
Settings for office printers, cameras, and other devices will be useful to hackers for cyber attacks on corporate systems. For hackers, this vector is ideal: in many companies, cyber defense is aimed at threats from the Internet, and little attention is paid to ordinary equipment.
Most devices store data about Wi-Fi networks in an unsecured form, which is why it is so easy to extract them. It is also easy to find out who the equipment belonged to before.
A poor-quality reset of the system to factory settings also leaves evidence: the device name often indicates the owner ("Alex iPhone 8"), and the network name indicates the address or employer ("DomBensonov", "CoffeVolcano_staff").
The password is already stored in the internal memory. Attackers can use the device's MAC address for verification.
The most reliable way to protect yourself and your colleagues is to delete all information before saying goodbye to your favorite gadget. For computers, we recommend formatting the disk, and for other equipment, we recommend performing a full factory reset. It is important to make a second reset for absolute confidence. Unfortunately, the quality of cleaning varies depending on the type of equipment and manufacturer, and there is no guarantee of complete data removal.
Managing Wi-Fi access rights will also help you protect yourself. New and unknown devices must be completely isolated until the owner recognizes them. You can manually isolate the device before disposing of it. Then attackers will definitely not be able to get into the system.
We never forget to delete your personal photos and messages before saying goodbye to your old computer or phone. However, there is another type of personal data that almost no one thinks about — these are the settings for connecting to your home Wi-Fi network.
Wi-Fi access has commercial value for attackers. The most harmless (albeit illegal) benefit is the ability to use the network of neighbors in order not to pay for communication yourself. Much less harmless is the theft of personal information: in the home network, devices trust each other, so it is not difficult to steal, for example, photos and documents.
It is even worse when Wi-Fi is hacked for illegal activities such as sending spam, extortion, or DDoS attacks. Criminals can exploit a vulnerable device (router, network storage, or camera) as a proxy server. Of course, the main damage is borne by the owners: the Internet is slower, IP is blacklisted. The user may face a block from the provider or even a visit from the police.
Settings for office printers, cameras, and other devices will be useful to hackers for cyber attacks on corporate systems. For hackers, this vector is ideal: in many companies, cyber defense is aimed at threats from the Internet, and little attention is paid to ordinary equipment.
Most devices store data about Wi-Fi networks in an unsecured form, which is why it is so easy to extract them. It is also easy to find out who the equipment belonged to before.
- If you sold the device, the buyer knows whose it belongs to.
- If you decided to dispose of it, you may have left your contacts behind.
- If it was thrown away, then somewhere near the place of use.
A poor-quality reset of the system to factory settings also leaves evidence: the device name often indicates the owner ("Alex iPhone 8"), and the network name indicates the address or employer ("DomBensonov", "CoffeVolcano_staff").
The password is already stored in the internal memory. Attackers can use the device's MAC address for verification.
The most reliable way to protect yourself and your colleagues is to delete all information before saying goodbye to your favorite gadget. For computers, we recommend formatting the disk, and for other equipment, we recommend performing a full factory reset. It is important to make a second reset for absolute confidence. Unfortunately, the quality of cleaning varies depending on the type of equipment and manufacturer, and there is no guarantee of complete data removal.
Managing Wi-Fi access rights will also help you protect yourself. New and unknown devices must be completely isolated until the owner recognizes them. You can manually isolate the device before disposing of it. Then attackers will definitely not be able to get into the system.
