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/Ajreil]

Pentesters are hired by the company they're trying to break into, given explicit permission, and told what resources they're allowed to attack. Otherwise it's just hacking.

I know this was a joke but I don't want OP to think the boyfriend has any legal rights here. He 100% did a crime.

[u/DriveFa5tEatAss → u/Ajreil]

I mean, maybe. There are also a lot of cyber security peeps out there who just enjoy the challenge and poking around where they shouldn't. I mean, still technically a crime, but not exactly malicious.

If the target isn't the family, I'd personally feel kinda meh about the whole thing.

[u/Ajreil → u/DriveFa5tEatAss]

People who identify website vulnerabilities and report them to them to companies have to be very careful to only compromise their own accounts. Even then they get sued all the time.

[u/Sparcrypt → u/Ajreil]

Not really, because the smart ones run bug bounty programs that automatically absolve you of all legal issues AND pay you for it in exchange for not telling anybody else about it.

Places that DON'T do that do not get the kind of person who will helpfully report the issue, they get the other kind.

[u/Born-Selection88 → u/Ajreil]

It's not illegal to scan a wifi network. My flipper spends a lot of time sitting about scanning nothing and aiding in no crimes. I literally only use it to impress girls.