this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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Privacy

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Should I worry about BeaconDB? (pawb.social)
submitted 4 days ago by Staden_@pawb.social to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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BeaconDB has a database with the location of millions of Wi-Fi access points around the world. I worry that someone could somehow discover what my SSID is and look it up in the darabase.

Would it be possible? Could someone associate my IP address with my SSID and then find where I live?

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[–] madasi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

It's far from the only source of this data, and yes it can be used to geolocate you: https://hackers-arise.com/osint-tracking-the-suspects-precise-location-using-wigle-net/

I can't find a link now, but I remember seeing an article in the past about watching for what networks someone's laptop checks to see if they are available (saved networks it auto-joins) and using them to determine likely physical locations it is commonly located in.

[–] Staden_@pawb.social 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Acording to the link you provided, I'd need an SSID or MAC address to find an AP's location. Assuming I never leaked my ssid, would it be difficult to find it with my IP or other publicly available info?

[–] madasi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't know of a way to determine an SSID over the internet from just an IP, no. I'd either need to sniff traffic from your machine or run software on your machine to get the information to then lookup in one of the maps/databases.

[–] Staden_@pawb.social 1 points 4 days ago

Good. That makes me feel safer. Thank you ♥️