Deactivate unused interfaces

You should only activate positioning, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or NFC if you really need it.

More information

In certain cases, you can be recognized via Wi-Fi. In the most extreme cases, even your home address can be determined. Some devices reveal the unique hardware number of your Wi-Fi interface as well as the list of your known Wi-Fi networks. You can easily search for the physical locations of Wi-Fi networks on websites such as wigle.net. Google and Apple use their market power to store the locations of neighboring Wi-Fi networks through their devices in their own databases. Do you operate your own Wi-Fi? Google, Apple and all the secret services know its coordinates. But Bluetooth and other interfaces also harbor dangers. Bluetooth, for example, is susceptible to bluesnarfing (opening ports that are actually closed by commands from outside), bluejacking (sending unwanted messages), bluebugging (exploiting a backdoor), bluesmacking (denial of service) or car whispering (eavesdropping on the hands-free system).

Other categories

  • Dangers due to direct access
  • Rather simple