Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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On a typical Linux distro, what information do WiFi access points get when you search for and use another AP? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 days ago by comfy@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Let's say, I sit down in a mall, open my laptop and connect to a secured mobile hotspot. Then I do it again next week after a reboot. What information would a nearby shop or a passive malicious hacker be able to find about my device? Does my device send out identifying information before joining, like a MAC address? Is this persistent, or randomized?

I intentionally haven't specified a distro, so if something only applies to some network managers, give some details.

Bonus points: what about Android phones?

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[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

To add to this, I'd be more worried about traffic collection. DNS requests (if your browser isn't using dnssec then you may not be aware), IPs visited, and other stuff.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

not only the browser, other programs and system services too

[–] thumdinger@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I might be wrong on this or might be missing your point, but I thought dnssec was for validating integrity of the request, not to encrypt it like DoT or DoH.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

Sorry my bad, you are correct and I meant DoT or DoH.