# Cell phone question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939 "2016-09-26T16:20:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939/21 "2016-09-27T00:17:35Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > One other thing I’d like to point out is that often your GPS system can piggyback off of the WiFi system to get a stronger signal and to be more accurate. Often if you turn off WiFi (depending on what phone you have) you’ll see a warning that the GPS signal is improved by having WiFi turned on. > > I mention this because the OP stated that the primary reason for having the phone is to play Pokémon Go. That app requires a functioning GPS signal before you can play it. So I think this is an important consideration in this situation. That’s all separate systems too. Location services use a combo of GPS, tower triangulation and (at least Android does because Google keeps track) known wifi nets. So if you are standing outside Starbucks\_Anywhereville and across the road from Pub\_In\_Anywhereville it’s easy to locate the device. If there’s nobody broadcasting their SSID, the device might be able to see a few towers and guesstimate that way, and obviously GPS is there too. I don’t know what mix of the latter two has a greater influence, but location services are uncannily good at figuring out where you are these days. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939/22 "2016-09-27T11:43:56Z")
You are not connecting to/thru any “official” router. You are connecting to a Bad Guy’s router. They are getting the raw traffic from your device. WPA2, etc. _doesn’t mean squat_ when the Bad Guy is one of the parties of the communication! They will present to you what _looks like_ an official login screen. You enter your credentials. They then let you in as if you had officially logged in. (Or they can route your login to the official page for even more fun.) ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939/23 "2016-09-27T12:39:22Z")
I don’t think people realise how easy it is to do really bad things if you have your phone (or laptop, or whatever) in what amounts to most people’s phone’s default WiFi access mode. > **[The beginners guide to breaking website security with nothing more than a...](https://www.troyhunt.com/the-beginners-guide-to-breaking-website/)** > > You know how security people get all uppity about SSL this and SSL that? Stuff > like posting creds over HTTPS isn’t enough, you have to load login forms over > HTTPS as well and then you can’t send auth cookies over HTTP because they’ll get > sniffed and... TL;DR Phones will continuously poll around them for WiFi stations they have connected to in the past. If you once, years ago used the Apple Shop’s WiFi, your phone will still be asking if it is nearby. All a bad actor has to do is say “Yes, I am” and your phone will connect to it. If you ever trusted a free WiFi in the past, anyone can spoof the same SSID again and get you to connect. And it is easy, they don’t have to guess the SSID, your phone tells them. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939/24 "2016-09-27T13:30:34Z")
Again, your phone will only connect to a previously known AP if the phone and AP successfully pass through the WPA2 four-way handshake. That can’t happen unless the bad guy’s AP knows the password that you were using when your phone last connected to that AP. You’re not going to see any “login page” until you’ve passed through WPA2 authentication and are connected to the wifi network. The page that **Francis Vaughn** linked to says > [@](#): > > Of course if it’s a protected network they still need to have the right wireless credentials, but if it’s an open network then the Pineapple asks for no such thing, it just lets the device straight in whether the device thinks it’s connecting to a legitimate access point or not. So this page is talking about spoofing a previously known wifi AP that had no WPA2 security. Yes, if you go around connecting to open APs then you are vulnerable to this kind of attack. If you only connect to APs that implement WPA2 with a reasonable password like your home AP, you’re not. WPA2 was designed to prevent this kind of thing. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939/25 "2016-09-27T16:46:22Z")
While the main danger is from new, previously unconnected WiFi hotspots, previously ones can be a hazard as well. Routers and such are a prime target now. Turns out, that there are astonishing holes in these that easily give attackers root access to the device. So they can sniff traffic, fake being another provider’s free WiFi site as well as attack the machines behind the router. They also are used to send spam. The holes that have been discovered and reported on Slashdot are unbelievable and then some. Open telnet ports with a trivial root password, if that. And manufacturers are slow to provide firmware updates, if at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-question/766939.md?page=1)