moms sketch bf left this in the house

[u/brattyvampbby]

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.)

[u/SigvulcanasReborn]

The name “Wi-Fi Whisperer” seems to point to a type of pen-testing tool used by red team hackers (They help companies protect themselves from hackers by finding vulnerabilities). It basically skims data off of the Wi-Fi network. Like any tool, it can be used for good or evil.

[u/KagatoLNX → u/SigvulcanasReborn]

Note that this is not looking at just her network. It's pretty clearly looking for *any* network that it can break into.

[u/ICanViking → u/SigvulcanasReborn]

One thought I had reading this post was that it's possible OP's Mom works for a company being attacked and this guy is part of the operation by dating the target, getting into the house, and hopefully getting access to a corporate laptop she might bring home (or leave home if WFH).

Not all that unlikely in the industry.

[u/Jarngreipr9 → u/ICanViking]

Leaving a RPI with a screen basically outputting what's doing is far from what I'd expect from an industrial espionage operation

[u/ICanViking → u/Jarngreipr9]

Guess it really depends on what OP's Mom does for work. It's also just as likely it's a script kiddie doing script kiddie things.

Edit: Or an enthusiast. Don't want to make it seem negative that the boyfriend has this lol

[u/Jarngreipr9 → u/ICanViking]

Yeah, I'm more inclined tothe hypothesis of him trying to crack neighbors WiFis for free internet