WiFi signals can now identify people with near-perfect accuracy
Original: Ordinary WiFi can now identify people with near perfect accuracy
Why This Matters
Transforms ubiquitous WiFi infrastructure into potential surveillance network
German researchers at KIT demonstrated that ordinary WiFi routers can identify and track individuals with high accuracy by analyzing radio wave reflections off bodies, even when people carry no devices or have phones turned off.
Scientists at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology showed how standard WiFi networks can become surveillance tools by analyzing radio wave propagation patterns. Professor Thorsten Strufe explained the system works like a camera using radio waves instead of light to recognize people. The technology requires no special hardware, operating through normal beamforming feedback information transmitted unencrypted between routers and devices. Researcher Julian Todt warned this could turn every router into a monitoring system, allowing identification without detection in cafes or public spaces. Unlike previous methods requiring expensive sensors, this approach uses ordinary WiFi hardware already deployed globally in homes, offices, and public venues.