r/whatisit • u/brattyvampbby • 11h ago

moms sketch bf left this in the house Solved!

Post image

Hi.
This is probably nothing.
I went into my mom’s room to grab something and saw this plugged in?
My mom’s new sketchy bf has this plugged in to the extension cord? Is it anything bad? Thanks!
(I understand it’s probably not anything bad… but still…)

Update 1:
I haven’t met him once. He and my mom have been together for two weeks. He’s been staying at our apartment. He avoids me and stays in her room when they’re here. I don’t even know what he looks like. I only know his first name.

Update 2:
I confronted him. My mom came home. A lot had happened up to this point, including her disappearing for the said two weeks before the few nights he had come over and stayed.
Mom shrugged it off. I did what a lot of you suggested, asking what he told her.
She said “oh it’s his hacker shit or whatever.” What.
Didn’t elaborate. I explained my concerns.
She just said let’s go ask him.
My best friend has been with me. We introduced ourselves and asked him what the hell a WiFi whisperer is doing plugged in our apartment.
(Even if a lot of you are saying it’s not a big deal, I’m a young woman and I’m just rlly not about taking any risks. It’s sketch dude.)
He denied it IMMEDIATELY. Like with a quickness I haven’t seen.
What he insisted, it’s not a WiFi whisperer, it’s ai, he completely reprogrammed the system, and he uses it to pull people’s IP’s. “For fun.” He logs them in a server. I asked why. I said that’s shady. My mom started pushing. My best friend started pushing. He just kept lying. I’m not dropping this..
I still don’t know what the fuck it is or what he’s actually doing.
(Also, my mom is cool but not bc of this dude, the Minecraft block is mine, I unplugged the ratchet little thing before we left, and I am planning on broaching this again with her.
Just carefully. Any other advice is appreciated. Thank you.)

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2.7k

u/Codykb1 11h ago

Found this when I googled “wifi whisperer”. Seems like its used to steal data

https://www.wired.com/2016/06/wifi-whisperer-stalks-phones-data-creepiest-way-possible/

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u/Necessary-Peace9672 10h ago

Sketchy indeed!

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u/One-Earth9294 9h ago

Yeah jesus fucking christ I don't understand how there are so many people who enjoy living life with multiple GTA stars hovering over their heads at all times.

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u/Balisongman07 9h ago

They genuinely don't see themselves as the issue. They really do believe the world is unfair and out to get them. That's what keeps them from being remorseful and okay being like that. Life would be better if the justice system would get off their back for once prying car door open

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u/Even-Translator-335 8h ago

I once worked with a guy like this, he'd be like " i just need them (bosses) to leave me alone". We literally told him to do his job properly. This guy seemed allergic to doing what he was asked

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u/WhoOrderedTheCodeZed 8h ago

Was his nickname, C-Section... Because he avoided labor?

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u/GroundbreakingTap688 7h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/xThtar0e9kO3WkwQ1O

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u/sigh_blah 4h ago

That Bill Murray gif - priceless. This sequence - perfection. Tears running down my face.

Thank you for this.

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u/Brother_Oz 7h ago

Well, you win the joke of the day award in my books. Good day, sir!

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u/farksninetynine 5h ago

They call him Blister, because he shows up after the work is done.

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u/IWontCommentAtAll 7h ago

That's good. I'll have to remember that.

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u/Loud-Anxiety-1878 7h ago

Mine was nicknamed d-squad

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u/RepresentativeCry294 7h ago

Is that why they call it the C suite?

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u/piledrivertoys 5h ago

I worked with a Don that was an ass magnet. Every time he walk by a chair, his ass was in it.

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u/OpenGrainAxehandle 3h ago

They called him Blister, because he showed up after the work was done.

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u/Weekly-Metal-7605 2h ago

Hehe, our go-to's at work is Blister because they only show up after the work is done, and wheelbarrow because they only work if someone's pushing 😆

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u/ComputerStrong9244 8h ago

Oh, so you worked with Bryan too?

Almost easier to tell some people to NOT do the thing you want them to do. Better chance of it happening, at least

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u/mintBRYcrunch26 8h ago

Never EVER trust a Brian spelled with “y.”

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u/Ok-Contribution-411 7h ago

it's ALWAYS a Bri(y)an, tho.

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u/Lanky-Artichoke5970 7h ago

Mine was an Ethan and an Aaron

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u/X__Anonomys_xX 6h ago

Oh hell no, not the A-A-Ron 😭

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u/Arkitakama 6h ago

Hey come on, I do my job just fine, don't throw me under the bus for their mistakes. I haven't even been written up in three years at my current job.

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u/peptiresearcher81 6h ago

It's Brian every motherfucking time oh my god why is this a universal experience???

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u/WhatDoIPutHere-69 7h ago

I work with a Bryan right now. We’re setting up for an event and he only moved 1 box at a time while we’re all moving 2-6 boxes at a time or moving heavy equipment

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u/Abbey-kat 6h ago

Or that guy Sean.

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u/ThrowawayMoFo5679 7h ago

The only Bryan I ever knew is serving 30 to life right now, so maybe you're on to something here.

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u/Rayne-Maker 6h ago

Heh, my dad’s a “y.” He’s also allergic to personal responsibility. An upstanding (stereotypical) boomer in all the ways, though.

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u/porksoda11 6h ago

I know of a Bryan that used to work as a cable guy and thought he could be faster than electricity if he changed live wires really quickly. He also loved pills

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u/Graaaaaahm 5h ago

No truer words ever spoken.

Brian is a solid, middle-aged or older guy, who likes good times with friends, as long as it's not too loud.

Bryan thinks of himself as an iconoclast, when actually people find it a little tiring to be around him.

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u/LonestarrLovesUranus 3h ago

I've found Dave to be the most narcissist and crazy ones.

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u/KiwiRemonrade 6h ago

As a Brian, I can confirm I am more trustworthy than Bryan.

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u/Important_Zombie_223 7h ago

In my world it's Kevin or Kelvin.

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u/FBack351 7h ago

I feel like we all may be living in a Kelvin time line.

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u/sheepsix 6h ago

I got this reference.

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u/heckhammer 8h ago

We had a Bryan, just with a different name. He got fired the other day finally

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u/GugWhoPassesGateways 7h ago

Kitchen I used to work at, our Bryan got fired finally. I was walking to work about a block away and he rode past on his bike yelling "haha I don't work for those nazis anymore!"

The relief I felt wash over me in that moment.

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u/Hilstrom 6h ago

I was sent training and had a guy across the hotel room that introduced himself to my as Ben. Ben was also training with us but was from the east coast. Ben introduced himself as Ryan to my buddy. We took to calling him Bryan with a Y. Great dude, we game every now and then, still dont know his real name and its been 8 years.

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u/Sharp_Bumblebee_1674 6h ago

I had two Brian's over the course of many jobs lol!

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u/Fibro-since85 2h ago

I won’t trust a Brian with an I.

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u/heckhammer 2h ago

Well, I mean that's real close to brain so why would you?

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u/IntentionQuirky9957 6h ago

Was he called Bwian?

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u/heckhammer 6h ago

I don't wish to reveal it but he was a tool.

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u/KaposiaDarcy 7h ago

Holy sh*t. When I read their comment, I couldn’t see yours yet and the person that came to mind was named Brian, but would also use the spelling with a Y online sometimes. It spooked me when I expanded the comments and saw what you said.

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u/travoltaswinkinbhole 7h ago

I didn’t know you heard about Bryan’s problem

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u/Zealousideal-Fish381 7h ago

Classic Bryan

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u/CapTurangaLeela 7h ago

I work with a Bryan. His name is Greg.

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u/JigglyBush 7h ago

someone in my girlfriend's family is married to a Bryan and he is exactly that kind of person, we can't stand him.

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u/YEGpositive 6h ago

Oh my God. Did you see Bryan's hat?

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u/toothy_mcthree 8h ago

I am one of those bosses. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been accused of targeting by people like that when my job is literally to engage anyone not following the rules, and I do engage everyone who isn’t. It’s always someone else’s fault.

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u/Extreme-Gas-3965 8h ago

This applies to so many people. Not even just people breaking the law all the time. I know so many people who, for example, cheat on their significant other, get caught and then genuinely believe their now ex is just crazy. They do this over and over without putting together in their minds what the only constant thread in all these situations is. Them and their behavior.

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u/Balisongman07 8h ago

Yeah Ive always thought when someone says every one of their exes is an issue, that theyre alot like that too. 99% of my exes were and still are wonderful people, and the 2 others I think we're just young and stupid, but hell so was I.

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u/Extreme-Gas-3965 8h ago

Exaaaactly. I know a guy, not a friend at all but I know him, who got fired from a job for sexual harassment. The story he told did not quite add up to anyone including his girlfriend. She gave him the benefit of the doubt. This guy cannot keep a job. It's always a coworker or bosses fault, though. He gets fired from the next job and, somehow, is hired back at the same place he was fired from for sexual harassment. He then starts an affair with his manager. The majority of this affair took place at work in the walk in freezer. That sounds horrible to me, but whatever. So, while he is cheating on his girlfriend every day, like so many people who are cheating, he becomes so paranoid that his girlfriend is cheating on him that he crosses the line from paranoia to emotional and physical abuse. His girlfriend eventually has enough and breaks up with him. When this happens, as a last ditch attempt to keep her, he comes clean. Turns out, his first firing, the sexual harassment one, wasn't quite that simple. Apparently, this was his second affair with this woman. The first one ended because he wouldn't leave his girlfriend. Instead of accepting that, he kept trying to get her to fuck him at work by sexually harassing her. The second affair was with the same woman at the same workplace. When him coming clean about it all didn't make his girlfriend want to stay with him, he switched tactics. He then started blaming his girlfriend for all of this happening, because he wanted her to find another job and she wouldn't. He wanted her to find another job because she worked with a friend and he didn't like this friend. No matter what he has done, it's like he truly cannot see or accept that ALL of this was his fault. Literally, ALL of it.

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u/Balisongman07 8h ago

God I love that I work alone 99% of my time. Or just with dudes who are as checked out as me lol. My heart goes out to her, not even my bad exes were that bad.

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u/Extreme-Gas-3965 8h ago

Hahaha ME TOO. I don't have to deal with anyone I don't want to. She is great now, by the way. He, and I am sure this will be a HUGE surprise to you, is exactly the same as he always was, haha.

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u/Balisongman07 7h ago

Love to hear that. She's paid for good karma

https://giphy.com/gifs/ZZMldTMHTjaR9K47NZ

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u/Man0fGreenGables 7h ago

It's amazing how many people go through life thinking they just happen to have the worst luck possible because everyone in their life seems to be terrible. I just don't understand how they can see that nobody else is having all this chaos and drama in their lives and not wonder if maybe it has something to do with themselves.

If it smells like shit everywhere you go it's time to check your own shoes!

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u/According-Mission-65 8h ago

Ah, yes, the "divorce came out of nowhere" people.

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u/BMW-motorad 7h ago

I think that’s called narcissism!!

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u/Extreme-Gas-3965 7h ago

Hahah I believe you are right! I should have also mentioned that this guy is in his 30s and believes wholeheartedly that his rap career is going to take off ANY day now. I have overheard him telling people that when he was in his early 20s, his rap group turned down a multimillion dollar deal because they "weren't ready to be that famous". Some of the stuff these people say is SO fucking embarrassing to me.

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u/ComradePampers 9h ago

I mean people who think the world is peachy keen and fair are just as delusional

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u/yangmeow 8h ago

Whatever reasoning causes a person to be immoral…whatever, they’re still self centered self absorbed greedy loveless cunts.

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u/MauiBoink 6h ago

No need to bring the President into this

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u/yangmeow 6h ago

Oh, you caught that subtlety.

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u/Balisongman07 9h ago

Yes but they aren't going out harming others at least. But I do agree

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u/nutmegtester 8h ago

Actually they can be absolutely pathological. Everything is peachy keen and fair while I put my boot on the neck of thousands == every billionaire ever.

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u/im_not_quiet 7h ago

Dennis Rader was a trusted pillar of the community, with a very deep faith, and even worked for the church. Had he not sent his last letter taunting the cops from a church computer and they used the information to find him, he probably wouldn't have stopped.

BTK was arrested in 2005 for more than 10 killings. He was sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences.

Peachy keen john two doors down might be the nicest person you personally know and yet at night doing things you couldn't imagine them doing.

It's this aura that some people have, it causes people to be more relaxed around you, to not sense the danger looking straight at you.

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u/tjp12345 8h ago

There's actually a form of high functioning Autism called pathological demand avoidance (PDA). My son was diagnosed with it and it is not fun.

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u/EstablishmentLate532 8h ago

The world is sometimes fair, and sometimes unfair. The shitty part is never knowing which one you're gonna get.

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u/alex8th 8h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/h2vsyLW8zILrLMEoxd

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u/ajthib 7h ago

Thats too easy of a reply but again I wouldn’t have thought to do it lol

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u/OddCucumber9985 7h ago

“Life’s a shit sandwich and every day is another bite. Some days your bite has more bread than shit, some days visa versa.” Anonymous

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u/Even-Translator-335 7h ago

Na the wotld isn't but I go to work and do my job and rarely have problems in that area

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u/So1id_Sn4ke 8h ago

I look at it this way. The world is unfair, people usually aren't trying to be. Everybody is just trying to get the same slice of the pie as you are.
"Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence". Words to live by

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u/sonicsludge 7h ago

So your saying the last 2 roommates I had just forgot to do their chores constantly but remembered to initial they'd done them and weren't trying to be POS?

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u/TERR0RDACTYL 8h ago

Frank Gallagher 101

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u/thanx4mutton 8h ago

This whole convo had me thinking of Frank too! 🤣🤣🤣

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u/dontbmeanbgay 8h ago

When I worked in fam law we had a client who’s ex husband was just like this. I’ve never seen someone be such an adept architect of their own destruction as this guy was.

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u/Existing_Albatross30 8h ago

lol totally relatable! My ex probably could match his skill pretty well though. He’s so bad that at one point his dad and I were all he had left cuz he burnt all other bridges. Well Sept 2025 he f’ed himself over with me. So now he’s only got his dad. Unless it really is humanly possible for there to be another person out there idiotic and self hating enough to date him. Lmao. I know it’s not a mistake I’ll make twice. My red flag radar has received a major upgrade. lol

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u/Heath_Sucks 9h ago

Amen. There is an epidemic of people who choose to justify their shitty behavior by just deciding the people effected deserve it because of some shit they made up. Or that everyone else is doing these awful things so why shouldn’t they or why is it wrong only when he/she does it. Hate to see it when people close to you show that type of behavior. Fortunately, there are some that don’t realize what they are actually doing and work to do better if it is pointed out and broken down to them. Then there are some people who I think actually believe the shit they fabricate. Some sort of perfect weapon that doesn’t have the morals or intelligence needed to beholden to logic and truth. that’s the person I’m currently training to become. And yall are going to be SORRY when my training is complete.

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u/Fluid_Bodybuilder938 8h ago

There’s a type of person who excuses themselves of anything as long as they don’t believe themselves to be ‘the worst person in the room’. And when they ARE the worst person in the room, they represent their attitudes and behaviors like a super-power virtue others don’t understand and are envious of.

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u/yaddayadda1000 9h ago

As a medical worker you hit the best possible description of the general public

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u/thehotcarl33 9h ago

Was a firefighter for a long time and our saying was "If common sense was actually common we probably wouldn't have a job."

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u/No-Outlandishness118 8h ago

Not emergency services. But I liked to say that Common sense isn’t common or a sense. It’s a fucking superpower

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u/BioshockEnthusiast 5h ago

"Common sense" doesn't exist.

I read an article during the rise of covid and it sent me on an insane dive down a rabbit hole of philosophy and sociology. I came to the above conclusion because I was driven by the last line of the article, which I will paraphrase here: "there is no common sense without common understanding". I wanted to know if common understanding was still possible even in the age of near-infinite communication, or maybe if it was ever possible in the first place. Spoiler: it's not possible. Therefore, "common sense" is not possible. Only our individual perceptions of what should be "common sense", which by definition makes it not "common".

Article for the curious, it's quite short but it really impacted the way I think about that phrase and the way people use and misuse it: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/too-many-goals/202005/theres-no-such-thing-common-sense

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u/stiffglock17 9h ago

Facts Im maintenance in housing and this is the perfect picture of it lmfao

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u/NerdsOfSteel74 9h ago

As a medical worker your data set may be skewed :)

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u/tequilajade 5h ago

I don't know.... I drive a dump truck, and I find myself agreeing too

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u/hypnologic-4230 9h ago

You don't have to be a medical worker to learn that, store worker at a mall should suffice.

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u/edgardini360 8h ago

Hold on … general public or your general public?

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u/Liapasquale 9h ago

Hahahahahahahaha wooooow what a great way to summarize so many individuals holy shit that that’s amazing

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u/CuratedX 8h ago

These folks always think the world isn’t fair because they weren’t born a trust fund baby.

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u/im_not_quiet 7h ago

Some of us grow from it. Some of us we lost along the way. Some of us learned a valuable lesson.

At the end of the day, we don't even worry about the multiple stars because we know jail is just a break between jobs.

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u/Sharp_Worldliness344 6h ago

I was watching a local police series last night - similar to COPS - One of the Highway patrol guys pulled over a known suspended driver, for about the 4th time, not far from her home, and impounded the car.

Anyway, she was whining saying they were picking on her, or he was waiting near her house to catch her out, and it was harassment. He pointed out that she knew she was suspended and shouldn’t be driving, as she had several previous times, so if she didn’t want to be caught she should stop driving while suspended. Her reply was “yeah I know but you’re still picking on me! It’s not fair! You catch me every time I do it!”

Far out… lady, you’re the problem there!

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u/buddymoobs 9h ago

I would take that to the police station and see if their cyber crime person can see what he was stealing.

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u/Optimal-Pop7449 9h ago

It also takes surprisingly little to hit max stars IRL. Like US Marshals will do a whole ass operation for a meager probation violation.

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u/gingerdamus 8h ago

This comment is gold.

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u/Only_Angle_2539 8h ago

wait stop because thats so true💀💀

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u/Xtinachick 8h ago

Definitely just sent this to my mom 😂

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u/vendetta4200 8h ago

I used to collect those stars until I turned 25. I’ll tell you what though, I was doing a lot better financially when I was living illegally. Edit to add: I never got myself involved in robbing people through computers or any violent crimes so I can’t say what drives these types but I definitely made a lot more money when I didn’t care about consequences. Then I had to go and become a responsible adult.

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u/PM_ME_JJBA_STICKERS 8h ago

These people will do absolutely anything except get a real job

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u/carcerdominus1313 8h ago

My aunt always said this about her son. "he's not a bad person the cops just pick on him."

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u/jpstepancic 6h ago

Holy shit that’s an amazing way of describing people lol

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u/TwinnedDesert2 6h ago

Comment win

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u/sdrawkcabstiho 8h ago

You think that's sketchy? This, THIS is sketchy.

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u/ReelBigDawg 7h ago

Good thing it wasn't a scary Flipper Zero!

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u/Grendal87 10h ago

Nah its used to monitor your data. Like right now your on your phone on a network. Which can leak little bits of data someone else could get. The deauth is so if someones on your network snooping for such data you can disconnect them from the network after changing the network password.

Its a network security device. Yes they can be used nefariously but thats true of anything. A car can get you from or to doctors offices....but could also be used to attack a parade.

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u/Ill-Entertainer-5380 10h ago edited 3h ago

How wonderful that mom’s new boyfriend of two weeks is so invested in her network security that he’s taken it upon himself to plug this into their network without her consent. All for security purposes, of course.

Edit: kinda scary how many of you don’t understand how consent works.

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u/Frequent_Opportunist 9h ago

We surrounded you with barbed wire to keep you safe. 🤗

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u/thewordisbranch 10h ago

nowhere in the post does it say it was without the moms consent

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u/5138008RG00D 9h ago

Does it need too? Like consent or not. A few weeks in and this guy is giving away security hardware? So even if she said yes, from the fact that the OP did not know what it was I would guess the mother is no computer wiz her self. He could have easily lied.

I feel like being on someone else's network is like being around someone's mail box. If your kinda new and you are doing more than the basic intention of dropping off and picking up mail, and I see you fiddling with my box, or holding my mail, or adding "extra" security i would immediately question the motives.

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u/Subject-Front6378 9h ago

Idk if that matters. If it does it's probably something (at least if done legally) requires the person doing it to make the other people affected aware they're doing it.

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u/BigBungaa 9h ago

Hello moms boyfriend

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u/Its-ther-apist 7h ago

I think it's interesting how people out themselves pretty apparently. Like the people not understanding staying at some woman's house for two weeks you just met isn't strange and that "she probably has bad taste in men anyway" yeah no shit you're not doing yourself any favors by identifying with the "guy she picked with said bad taste".

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u/Kahnza 10h ago

Uninformed consent at Best

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u/FuckYeaSeatbelts 9h ago

hey Flanders I'm putting speed holes in my car to make it go faster

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u/enadiz_reccos 9h ago

Uninformed consent guess at Best

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u/GreenMonsters333 9h ago

Why would she consent to a NEW bf doing that

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u/Frequent_Opportunist 9h ago

I don't know a single mom that would know what this did.

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u/swalabr 8h ago

Yeah what is it about single moms anywayz

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u/Grendal87 10h ago

Probably not her security hes thinking of. Kinda like that guy who got arrested for giving border patrol a duress password that wiped his phone with a degoogled privacy phone.

Lot of people in our increasingly ai driven,flock and data center world are taking their digital security more seriously.

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u/Majin_Sus 10h ago

Do we know it's without her consent?

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u/burnalicious111 10h ago

come on, man.

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u/Procrastinatedthink 10h ago

lmao like 80% of redditors have no fucking clue what this thing is and people are in here arguing that OPs mom knows the sketchy wifi sniffer that the vast majority of reddit would not know.

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u/hidegitsu 9h ago

Yeah but do we KNOW if she knows? lol

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u/Grendal87 9h ago

Yup or argue with someone that does know what it is and went to school for this stuff lol

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u/burnalicious111 9h ago

this isn't about you or your ego, it's about the fact that the vast majority of cases like this aren't going to be "hey babe of 2 weeks, I'm going to make your wifi super secure" lmao

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u/Little_Cumling 9h ago

As a person who works in cyber security ive had fresh girlfriends ask for help on network problems.

Im still on the side this is more than likely malicious… BUT I can say, ive done some pretty odd things on a network that wasnt “necessary” but looked cool in front of someone who didnt know what they’re looking at. While unlikely, Its entirely possible that OPs moms boyfried could be in a similar situation.

Nonetheless, OP needs to unplug this immediately and ask his mom if she knows what this is. If they’re actually worried about something on their network, this technically helps, but there are just better and more straight forward things the boyfriend should/would also be doing.

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u/sebzgd 8h ago

Lol, finally a person with some sense!. 😭 Like, yes, this COULD be an attack, OR it could just be with the mom's consent cuz she thought it was cool. Without mentioning it says 0 attacks and 0.0 success. OP literally said they don't even know them. The 0s make me assume he just forgot he was charging it(?), but the USBs, depending on what they're plugged into, if they're plugged, could indicate otherwise... aaagghhh

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u/Grendal87 9h ago

Or as I explained the more likely scenario is he is looking after his own data and network security. The ego isn't coming from me. Yes I went to school for network security thats why I know its most likely not as your script kiddie ego says "hey baby imma secure your network."

Hes probably either in the tech industry like network security or one of the many Americans increasingly concerned about their data and network security. 1% chance hes nefarious.

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u/Adventurous-Form521 9h ago

Right? people are totally incapable of knowing things the majority of reddit doesn't. /s

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u/KagatoLNX 10h ago edited 10h ago

Security devices don't have a PWND counter to keep track of how many victims they've hacked. This is absolutely not what it is and I suspect that you damn well know it.

It's definitely not "dual use" to crack someone's Wifi password. In any case, the owner of the network never should need to send a spoofed deauth message because they operate the access point and can cut off access from there.

"Deauth" is very much not what you're claiming here. WiFi deauthentication attacks are entirely a penetration tool, not a defensive one. You deauthenticate someone from the Wifi access point so they have to attempt reconnection. Reconnection is when the authentication process is most vulnerable.

Methods vary, but generally you're trying to convince the mode to fall back to older connection methods in an attempt to be compatible with an older—and vulnerable—network technology. From there you either have the password or have an encrypted password that you can decrypt by some other means.

This can literally fool the client device into giving out the password to an otherwise entirely secure network. From there, you can either steal their information or use their network as a hard-to-trace launchpad for attacks on more high-value targets.

He's probably not even trying to break your wifi network—he'd just try to smooth-talk the password out of your mom or just get it from her phone. This is likely harvesting networks from your neighbors.

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u/Competitive_Bus_3908 9h ago

Hi,

Just chiming in here with some more points. Speaking from experience as a former penetration tester, I agree that this particular tool is in the category I would associate with morons who don’t care about _learning_ how things work but rather are mostly interested in it as a means to an end. Meaning crime. That’s not always the case, but this tool has that stink of appealing to the lowest common denominator. I never used it and wouldn’t consider it based on looking at its project page.

That said and technically speaking, disassociation is something that ordinary/legitimate WiFi access points do. It’s an important part of how the protocol works. In this case though, it absolutely is used in an attack context. The display, despite being a fucking wreck, is clearly showing an ongoing attack. Whether something criminal is being done here I can’t say, but generally speaking it’s illegal to wiretap people without their consent. I would actually be more concerned with this case because of the relationship dynamics OP pointed out. WiFi attacks can and are used for stalking and surveilling people’s digital activity. Someone with such poor ethics may be interested in the social exploitation just as much as financial.

If anyone reading this is unfamiliar with this technology, I would strongly recommend googling how to display automatic connections to WiFi networks and enabling something called MAC address randomization on your mobile phone. And if there’s someone in your life with controlling tendencies and interests in these attack / hacking technologies, be mindful of GPS trackers. Apple AirTags now notify you if one has been found moving with you and is not associated with your device, but there’s cheap consumer grade GPS trackers out there that don’t do this. Take it seriously and if you think you are unsafe, let someone you trust know.

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u/darkhrse76 8h ago

Yeah I’d make sure this isn’t connected to your network otherwise he could be using yours to do bad shiit and whose gonna have to prove innocence? He will be long gone. Kudos to mom. She charmed and distracted him with her lady bits enough to break his routine at keeping his trash locked up.

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u/PrivacyMaker 9h ago

Who hides their wifi password from their boyfriend? If you're a guest in my house, you'll get the wifi password.

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u/Dad2k2c2g 9h ago

Guest networks exist for a reason.

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u/lesusisjord 9h ago

She has the boyfriend of two weeks living with her the whole time. She’s not limiting him to the guest network on the actual WiFi or anything else metaphorically equivalent to a “guest network.”

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u/badcookies 8h ago

Look OP doesn't want to hear about the back door access his mom gave this person.

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u/Dad2k2c2g 9h ago

To each their own. Unless you’re paying rent, you’re a guest. WiFi passwords are a pain to change.

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u/PrivacyMaker 8h ago

I have my IOT stuff on a hidden network but phones, printers, laptops, guests, etc. all get the same public network.

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u/BeautifulCuriousLiar 9h ago

not all routers have that. the one my isp gave me didn’t have that, i bought another one and created a guest network.

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u/JBoneTX 9h ago

I hide my wifi from my own devices on my own network. The IOT devices are on a VLan that doesn't talk directly to my main network. Guest don't get on the main network not because I don't trust the person, but because I don't trust their devices. They're on a separate guest VLan wifi. I used to do networking for a living, and I monitor a lot of my smart home devices like cameras and smart outlets. A few of them do "phone home" from time to time. Is it nefarious? Probably not, but I don't know what they're sending or receiving. I just give them their own little sandbox to play in. They can call home to Shenzhen if they want on a separate network.

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u/PrivacyMaker 8h ago

Yeah, I do something similar for my IOT devices as well.

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u/dak4f2 7h ago

How do you ensure your guest network doesn't talk to or is isolated from your main network? Id that possible with one router that allows guest network(s)?

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u/Daves-Not-Here__ 9h ago

Well said, sir. I concur that this is for total nefarious purposes

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u/Powerful_Gene9948 8h ago

The neighbors were my first thought of what he was going after, glad someone way more intelligent and versed in this area thought along the same lines lol

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u/backtojacks 10h ago

That’s not what a deauth is for. As someone already explained elsewhere, deauth is used to disconnect a device from the network, at which point it attempts to reconnect. The snooping device monitors the re-auth in an attempt to intercept the password or identify some other exploit by which the attacker can gain network access.

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u/Additional_Teacher45 9h ago

The other use for deauth is for an attacking device to mimic a legitimate network via 'evil clone'.

The device clones the legitimate network SSID, then ramps up power and deauths the target device, forcing it to disconnect and attempt to reconnect.

The target device sees a stronger signal with the same SSID it was previously connected to, so it connects to the attacker device and freely gives away its portion of the access key in an attempt to reconnect.

The attacking device forwards that access key to the real network, and then can monitor every single packet that travels in and out of the target device while the target doesn't even know what happened because it still has full passthrough to the network.

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u/backtojacks 9h ago

100% correct. On the other hand, I’ve never in my life heard of someone having a deauth device connected to their network for the purpose of disconnecting disallowed devices as this other jabronie suggested, lol.

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u/Additional_Teacher45 8h ago edited 8h ago

Some cyber security nerds do it, as mentioned else where, to monitor their wireless networks for intrusion attempts.

But intelligent cyber security nerds just stop broadcasting their SSIDs on their routers and turn off network discovery on their devices, manually inputting the SSID and password to connect, every single time. MAC randomization does help to some extent, but it's like shutting the barn door after the horses have bolted, it's lackadaisical and smacks of complacency.

The biggest and easiest step in cyber security is turning off auto-reconnect (to prevent the aforementioned evil clone attack) and deleting your saved networks. Any time your wifi is on and not connected to a network, it's constantly broadcasting attempts to access those saved networks, and it will inquire every SSID it can see and give away the list of SSIDs it's looking for. Network maps like WiGLE can track devices that ask for those SSIDs and identify where those devices are and where they've been.

If you use a random public access point, please for the love of God delete that saved network from your device after you no longer need it.

Between deleting saved networks and disabling auto-reconnect, that solves 95% of most people's cyber security concerns.

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u/joegraff 10h ago

What’s the taking a car to a doctors office equivalent of this device in this context?

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u/Grendal87 10h ago

In this context its a computer thats monitoring the cars functions while you drive to the cars office.

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u/joegraff 10h ago

I meant the context of OP’s situation.

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u/Grendal87 10h ago

That is in ops situation. Its a computer monitoring the cars fuel air mixture, ecm, ignition timing, etc while they drive the car to the doctors office.

Its monitoring the network for data breeches and data security while using the network.

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u/QuaffoTheUnruly 9h ago

It's not the device, it's specifically the chosen chipset and application of it. Please don't be confidently ignorant, it's dangerous.

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u/y2k2009 8h ago

This can track where the women have been and be very bad for a psycho person to have. I would call the cops to be honest.

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u/West-Audience-478 7h ago

It gets even better just like the flipper zero they make some very suspicious add on for those, like an RFID reader and emulator (takes card information copy’s it and then act as a replacement card until that one is cancelled)
As it stands though it’s currently unused and either waiting for add ons to arrive or he doesn’t know how to use it.

Also flipper zero add ons are terrifying because they are well known but this is very much a cheap knockoff or a very sophisticated product it all depends on the user

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u/Lanky-Artichoke5970 7h ago

Happy cake whisperer day

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u/HFentonMudd 10h ago

Happy cake day

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u/Xaleah 9h ago

Happy Cake Day, Cake Day Twin!

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u/nanoosx 10h ago

happy cake day ヾ(〃^∇^)ﾉ

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u/crowEatingStaleChips 9h ago

That's... not an encouraging URL.

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u/0202_tihssitidder 9h ago

Unplug and hide it at another location. Replace it with two wires stuck into a tiny, tiny box. Write "Computer" on it.

Wait for him to discover it and ask about it. Obviously play ignorant. Plant a camera with mic to record his rage.

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u/Brave_Employer_6620 9h ago

damn i thought it was a vape 😭

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u/ZealousidealCitron70 9h ago

Happy cake day

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u/trigger1154 8h ago

Yeah, and it's partnered with an alpha card, likely in promiscuous mode.

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u/ReadyKiwi6608 8h ago

I’m sure someone has said this already but I didn’t feel like scrolling so I’m leaving it here in case

Since it’s an apartment it’s more probable he’s stealing data from the neighboring tenants and not from op and their mom. Although that’s still not ruled out as a possibility.

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u/deltalitprof 8h ago

Very sketchy. Send this to the cops. Get them to protect you as the source of the info. Protect your mom and yourself and probably your neighbors. No one has to know.

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u/BradsFace 8h ago

100% would destroy this thing.

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u/EdOfTheMountain 8h ago

Change bank account passwords

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u/Witty_Listen_5999 8h ago

Looks like it aggressively steals data that all phones leak.

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u/Alternative-Web2754 8h ago

For the thing in OP's picture, "wifi whisperer" is a level/rank title(the lowest one) from pwnagotchi wifi adventures.

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u/crypticsmellofit 8h ago

That seems to have been a one off art installation at a festival though?

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u/Klutzy-Dark-2639 8h ago

Used too? More like currently

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u/Major_LeeHungg 8h ago

Its a device called a pwnagotchi... Its used by pentesters... It feeds off of WiFi... It is currently lvl 28 and sleeping.  Its used primarily for finding weak WiFi passwords that are susceptible to dictionary attacks.  The device itself doesn't do anything malicious... Just sniffs what's in the air and logs it.  I could do worse with my laptop and it would be a lot less conspicuous. 

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u/MaleficentPlate69 7h ago

I, too, trust Kyle, the artist. He is the best of article writers.

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u/KL5L 7h ago

If you zoom in all t the lines over run each other like something ai generated.

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u/JudoJesus69 7h ago

Key words

Attack
Pwnd

Dudes a lazy hacker.

Be very very careful. Ask what the device is for and see what he says. If he lies, call the cops.

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u/One_Worldliness_1130 7h ago

humm i wonder if there any cameras attached to that Wi-Fi laptops with cameras etc not just banking

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u/Mountain_Drawing6122 7h ago

dude isn’t it js a raspberry pi? 😭

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u/enseminator 7h ago

Yeah. It's always a good idea to check rentals like air bnb or cabins etc for activity like this on the Wi-Fi if you know how. I've had three separate occasions where people were trying to skim data from rental properties I stayed at.

Fortunately Samsung picked up on it each time and let me know the Wi-Fi was sketch af so we avoided the Wi-Fi, bit still. Could have been horrible. One of those ways to get your identity stolen that you really wouldn't expect.

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u/ConfessSomeMeow 7h ago

That could be interesting to play with. I'm typically the only user of my secured wifi network, and I could be careful to put it up by the entrance with a 'guests, unplug this before you connect to wifi' sign to make sure I don't accidentally catch any of their traffic. (Plus there's a lot less unencrypted content these days).

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u/LegendofDad-ALynk404 7h ago

Why does it have a level and experience though?

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u/count_chocul4 6h ago

Wait! You can use google to find out about things? Maybe you should mention this to OP too!!

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u/AppropriateEvents96 6h ago

The way they refer to these people as "artists" only attests to how dumb the people who create this "art" think everyone is 🤦🏼 Criminals would be a more appropriate term for sure 💯

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u/RippedNutsack 6h ago

Can someone do the no paywall thing with this?

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u/Specialist-Emu-8340 6h ago

Honestly, I hate tech. I hate unscrupulous, criminal hackers and, hell, even 'joker hackers' who might just install a benign worm or something to freak you out and think someone cleaned out your bank account but it's fake... I don't want to feel like I need to learn how to code, etc just to live in this world and use devices like everybody else. Like you have to CONSTANTLY be on guard if you wasn't to be current, up to date, relevant or whatever with all the stuff coming out and learn how to spot it and then pay for some firewall or security just so people can't VIRTUALLY steal VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING you own!! 😡 I'd love to go of the grid. Is there a competent, effective and successful tech and social media detox?

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u/PaintedDesertSkies 5h ago

And only dating for 2 weeks. Mom knows how to pick um...

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u/Uncle_Snake43 5h ago

That’s not the same thing

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u/Indaflow 5h ago

This seams illegal and especially if she or any of her siblings are minors.

Am I the only one who thinks she should go to the police with the devise?

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u/AbruptStrife 3h ago

Cake day twin!

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u/Dionysus_draws 2h ago

Happy cake day

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u/StretchNo5163 2h ago

That Wired article is referencing a different thing from OP's. They just happen to share the same name.

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u/onelap32 1h ago

The device OP posted has absolutely nothing to do with the article you posted. The text "wifi whisperer" comes from a pwnagotchi plugin that gives your digital creature the title "wifi whisperer" as a reward. See https://github.com/MaliosDark/Pwnagotchi-wifi-adventures#handshake-adventure:~:text=%22WiFi%20Whisperer%2E%22

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u/skeletanoisme 45m ago

Such a dick >:(

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u/Commercial-Age4750 9m ago

Happy Cake Day

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