Windows 10 Shares Your Wi-Fi With Contacts

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Windows 10 shares your Wi-Fi with your contacts? What could possibly go wrong? :eek:

For starters, despite years of advice to the contrary, many people tend to re-use the same password for everything. Also, lots of people write down their passwords. And, as The Reg notes, if you personally share your Wi-Fi password with a friend — by telling it to them or perhaps accidentally leaving it on a sticky note on your fridge — and your friend enters the password into his phone, the friends of your friend now have access to the network.
 
For a home network maybe not that horrible, as you probably already let your friends on your network. A little bit larger of an issue for a business network that you don't want just anyone being able to access. Don't think this should be enabled by default for any type of install and should be opt in for everything
 
half of us have the same password anyway lol... but for neighbors that could be lame since they could then steal your wifi.
 
Exavior said:
For a home network maybe not that horrible, as you probably already let your friends on your network. A little bit larger of an issue for a business network that you don't want just anyone being able to access. Don't think this should be enabled by default for any type of install and should be opt in for everything
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How about those of us who live in apartment buildings and have some neighbors in the contacts list? Yes. I have my neighbors in my phone for emergencies but I DO NOT want them on my wifi.
 
Pretty big issue for me, as I don't let *anyone* onto my primary networks unless I have full access and control of their device.

I have a separate guest WiFi VLAN that is heavily firewalled, proxied, bandwidth limited, and black listed to many sites so people can't easily compromise my networks or get me in legal trouble.

As someone (currently) working in the network security field, it pains me to see more and more devices being networked that don't need to be, and pisses me off to no end that software design is catering more and more to the lowest common denominator of "make it simple... and insecure."

I'm sorry, but if you're too stupid to operate basic software, you have no business owning computers or being on the internet. Call me an elitist, but there really should be some kind of mandatory education and license required for getting online, just like operating a vehicle.

With the way things are headed, everything being constantly hacked and compromised will soon be the norm.
 
Yet another reason I'm glad I hardwire everything. Stupid WiFi is nothing but trouble.
 
It's a boneheaded move to enable it by default but at least it can be easily turned off.
 
It can be turned off at the router level by including the text _optout somewhere in the SSID. What a fabulous kludge. Just be aware that if you are already opting out of Google mapping, that requires _nomap to be at the end of the SSID, so you can in theory (testing needed) use _optout_nomap to have both, but not the other way around.

Which only raises the question of what else we'll have to opt out of in the future - and the SSID limit is 32 characters, of which Google and Microsoft have now used 13.

I looked around on smallnetbuilder for better solutions on the router end, such as new options in firmware, but they don't seem to be aware of it even in the forums there.
 
hmm, am I the only dick that creates restricted guest networks for my friends/family?
 
*Sigh* Another click bait article writer that could not write himself out of a wet paper bag. I looked on the HP Stream 7 with Windows 10 installed and guess what? There is NO wifi sense in Windows 10. Also, Windows 10 and Windows Mobile 10 are 2 different things completely. Amazing how easy it is to debunk something with just 30 seconds of research.
 
ManofGod said:
*Sigh* Another click bait article writer that could not write himself out of a wet paper bag. I looked on the HP Stream 7 with Windows 10 installed and guess what? There is NO wifi sense in Windows 10. Also, Windows 10 and Windows Mobile 10 are 2 different things completely. Amazing how easy it is to debunk something with just 30 seconds of research.
Click to expand...

I suggest if you think that of Brian Krebs, you don't know a damn thing about Brian Krebs.

According to PCGamer, if you use Windows 10’s “Express” settings during installation, Wi-Fi Sense is enabled by default.
Click to expand...

He does include links to other articles that have different viewpoints, as well.
 
ManofGod said:
*Sigh* Another click bait article writer that could not write himself out of a wet paper bag. I looked on the HP Stream 7 with Windows 10 installed and guess what? There is NO wifi sense in Windows 10. Also, Windows 10 and Windows Mobile 10 are 2 different things completely. Amazing how easy it is to debunk something with just 30 seconds of research.
Click to expand...

Open the Network settings menu and go to Manage Wi-Fi settings. Do you not see the Wi-Fi Sense settings as seen here?
 
So my clueless friends can infect my network with their adware/malware riddled shit from the inside. What a great idea.

Just one more reason not to hop on the upgrade train. I'm waiting this one out.
 
ManofGod said:
*Sigh* Another click bait article writer that could not write himself out of a wet paper bag. I looked on the HP Stream 7 with Windows 10 installed and guess what? There is NO wifi sense in Windows 10. Also, Windows 10 and Windows Mobile 10 are 2 different things completely. Amazing how easy it is to debunk something with just 30 seconds of research.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should have done 60 seconds of research.
 
I've used a few different versions before the actual release date, I remember during the install to literally uncheck everything it wanted to use to spy.

Eventhough it's out, early adopters are still like beta testers. "Free" somewhat goes along with privacy concerns.
 
ManofGod said:
*Sigh* Another click bait article writer that could not write himself out of a wet paper bag. I looked on the HP Stream 7 with Windows 10 installed and guess what? There is NO wifi sense in Windows 10. Also, Windows 10 and Windows Mobile 10 are 2 different things completely. Amazing how easy it is to debunk something with just 30 seconds of research.
Click to expand...

Oops, looks like I was wrong. However, it is literally not on my Stream 7 but I did notice an alert for it on another computer a few minutes later so I guess it is not on all computers.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I suggest if you think that of Brian Krebs, you don't know a damn thing about Brian Krebs.
.
Click to expand...

Brian Krebs may be God to you, but this article is not well researched. Even though WiFi sense is set as default, you still have to go in and explicitly consent on which wireless network you want to share. You have to re-enter the wireless password for the consent. Therefore by default, no network is shared. I just went into my Windows 10 laptop and confirmed it. The ignoramus rule the day again.
 
Darunion said:
hmm, am I the only dick that creates restricted guest networks for my friends/family?
Click to expand...

No. I do, too. I limit the bandwidth and what they can do (80/53/25/110/443). Email and web (and DNS). I find my neighbors on it at times and knock them off... But, generally I don't mind. I just like messing with them!
 
bbqrooster said:
Brian Krebs may be God to you, but this article is not well researched. Even though WiFi sense is set as default, you still have to go in and explicitly consent on which wireless network you want to share. You have to re-enter the wireless password for the consent. Therefore by default, no network is shared. I just went into my Windows 10 laptop and confirmed it. The ignoramus rule the day again.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that additional info, it is appreciated. :) Yeah, I mentioned above that I was wrong and Wifi Sense is in Windows 10, I just did not see it on my HP Stream 7. Knowing that it is not automatically shared and that I can use the custom setup instead of express helps as well.
 
Originally Posted by TwistedAegis
I suggest if you think that of Brian Krebs, you don't know a damn thing about Brian Krebs.


When god has security questions, he asks Brian Krebs. Good Article, far from click bait.
 
Darunion said:
hmm, am I the only dick that creates restricted guest networks for my friends/family?
Click to expand...

Hehehe, nope. I have a guest network, but I don't usually make people use it unless I don't trust them. Most people who'd be over at my house are either smart enough in the first place, or doing something simple. I don't give them the key though. I enter it for them. Then I typically change it every-so-often.
 
Jim Kim said:
Originally Posted by TwistedAegis
I suggest if you think that of Brian Krebs, you don't know a damn thing about Brian Krebs.


When god has security questions, he asks Brian Krebs. Good Article, far from click bait.
Click to expand...

When people read, they would know I already said I was wrong, twice. :rolleyes: Thanks though.
 
bbqrooster said:
Brian Krebs may be God to you, but this article is not well researched. Even though WiFi sense is set as default, you still have to go in and explicitly consent on which wireless network you want to share. You have to re-enter the wireless password for the consent. Therefore by default, no network is shared. I just went into my Windows 10 laptop and confirmed it. The ignoramus rule the day again.
Click to expand...

I don't even think being default on or off is the full issue; you turn this on because your buddy came over and you give him access; then the unintended consequences of the network effect and the "creep" of who can then access your network kicks in. Further, this takes your WiFi password and then stores it in the MS cloud; can't think of any further unintended consequences there.
 
Further, if you share the password the traditional way (tell me it) and I put it into my W10 phone, laptop, or tablet, I can then share your network with all of my contacts automatically. Could they have done that in the past just by texting/e-mail/whatever? Sure. But this way means now that if your "friend" does this and one of their friends is in the apartment below you, their device could connect automatically without any of the additional burden of intentionally setting all of that up.
 
LOCO LAPTOP said:
This!
Click to expand...

Not really that big a deal if your network is locked down.

I only have a range of 15 ip addresses available for my devices that is already using DHCP reservation.

so even if you have the wifi password there is no ip for you to grab and I also use mac address filtering (I know this isn't super secure) Those changes alone are enough to keep people off my network who isn't a security expert or crazy Chinese hacker.

But then again I own a house and live alone so I have full control over my internet and my LAN. If you have a family and a million friends that need to get on your internet when they come over good luck!
 
M76 said:
So my clueless friends can infect my network with their adware/malware riddled shit from the inside. What a great idea.

Just one more reason not to hop on the upgrade train. I'm waiting this one out.
Click to expand...

You are going to wait 11 years to upgrade then?

Also you can turn the feature off, so it isn't a concern unless you don't know it is there and on.
 
However wonderful you might think the author is. . . he goes out of his way to sensationalize something that is not that sensational. He points to an Ars article that debunks the hysteria, but then just says: "meh, panic anyways!"

As others have pointed out, the service can be enabled by default. And then there is yet another option to enable facebook features. But no wireless network credentials will be shared unless you explicitly tell Windows you would like to share a network's credentials.
 
Exavior said:
Also you can turn the feature off, so it isn't a concern unless you don't know it is there and on.
Click to expand...

Except when you/wife/kid give the password to a friend to use and THEY have it enabled.

I have guest network setup, but it's not open.
If someone comes over and needs WiFi, I give then the guest password, and since I change it occasionally, it's unlikely some random person would come by and use my WiFi.
 
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