Cyber forensics course specialists report that WiFi Finder developers, an app for Android operating system, have just leaked more than two million passwords of WiFi access points. According to reports, the exposed access codes are part of a recently discovered online unsecured database.
The app, in addition to helping users to find WiFi hotspots, exposed the user names and passwords of the access points used by the entire user set. According to cyber forensics course specialists, the exposed database had over 2 million of user name/password sets for thousands of access points across the United States.
The developers of WiFi Finder are of Chinese origin and the application has more than 500,000 downloads. Among the filtered information are not only public WiFi access points, as they have also exposed multiple access credentials for WiFi signals for home use.
The leaked database contains information such as:
- WiFi network names
- Accurate network geolocation
- BSSID identifier
- Network passwords
Although the exposed database did not include personal details of the owners of the home or business networks, the geolocation function in the app could give evidence of the identity of the owners.
Cyber forensics course specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) consider that this incident not only leaves the users of these access points in a compromising situation, but also poses a risk for the access points’ owners.
According to cyber security specialists, an unsecured access point can be the starting point for deploying multiple cyber attacks, as a hacker could easily access a router and modify its configuration for malicious purposes.
It is well known that, most of the time, administrators of WiFi access points (whether domestic, business or public access) rarely implement security measures beyond the setting of a password to protect themselves against attack variants such as the well-known Man-in-The-Middle (MiTM) attack.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
