Your MAC Address Can be Detected Easily When Your Smartphone Connected to the Wi-Fi

Syifaul Fuada,Raihan Fakhri Rabbani,Shorful Islam,Prasetiyo Prasetiyo,Rahmat Muttaqin,Nuur Wachid Abdul Majid,Trio Adiono

doi:10.3991/ijim.v15i07.17169

Abstract

In this short paper, we prove that smartphones connected to Wi-Fi can be detected (scanned) easily with a Raspberry Pi help. According to the observation, the smartphone eventually broadcasts some packets of data containing MAC layers data. The period of broadcasting data depends on the smartphone’s state (active scanning/sleep). Besides MAC layers data, we also detect/capture other parameters, i.e., wireless signature data transmitted by smartphone (RSSI) and Time-stamp. The RSSI value measured in this test has a range from –30 dBm to –80 dBm. The result proves that different smartphones give different RSSI values (each smartphone emits different power strength). The RSSI value has more significant changes in a short-range (in this test result, 1 to 10 meters) and less significant change in a long-distance (above 20 meters). MAC address, time-stamp, and RSSI scanned/captured successfully through Raspberry Pi from the smartphones can be used as a reference for various purposes/applications in future work, such as Wi-Fi scanning/tracking system.

Highlights

Nowadays, almost all people at every economic level, from the lower–middle to upper–middle-class, already have smartphones
According to the test result, for the smartphone that is set to discovery-mode, three types of packets data are associated with the smartphone: 1) Payload data: data transfer when the smartphone has connected to existing AP; 2) Packet data response: packet data that were surrounding AP emit to response the smartphone device; and 3) Packet data request: packet data that smartphone emits
Based on the report received, we can conclude that the Tracker-Node is capable of scanning the wireless signature data emitted by the smartphone

Summary

Introduction

Almost all people at every economic level, from the lower–middle to upper–middle-class (adults and children), already have smartphones. Smartphone users continue to increase [1]. The update of internet technology has completed smartphone functions. Smartphones that utilize internet access offer various capabilities to download various sources, such as music, games, applications, videos online (streaming), and many other things. Through smartphones and adequate internet support, the necessities of life can be enjoyed. Wi-Fi is more practical than LAN cables in terms of connectivity between the internet source to gadgets (e.g., laptops, tablets, smartphones, and so on). Users are more comfortable because they just activate the Wi-Fi mode on their smartphone, and the smartphone will be connected directly to the internet. The behavior of smartphone users can be tracked [3] [4] [5]

Methods

Results

Conclusion