Everyday Wi-Fi routers can track and identify you with 99.5% accuracy — even if you aren’t carrying a phone.

Imagine walking into your living room or passing by a local café, completely disconnected from your devices, only for an invisible network to instantly map your physical identity. Cybersecurity researchers have revealed that ordinary, off-the-shelf Wi-Fi routers can do exactly that.

By exploiting unencrypted data called “beamforming feedback information”—a standard feature introduced in Wi-Fi 5 to help direct signals to connected devices—anyone with cheap, monitoring-enabled hardware can passively map the surroundings.

This breakthrough research demonstrates that radio wave reflections can be compiled to identify individuals walking through a room with an astonishing 99.5% accuracy rate, creating an invisible, highly accurate tracking infrastructure.

The security implications are profound because this tracking method bypasses traditional defenses. Even when individuals altered their walking style or carried bulky items like backpacks and crates, the experimental system still maintained a 50% to 60% identification rate.

Because beamforming signals are broadcast unencrypted across millions of homes, offices, and public spaces, researchers warn that this loophole turns everyday networks into ready-made surveillance tools without requiring any specialized hardware. As wireless standards evolve, privacy experts are urgently calling for robust encryption updates to patch this invisible threat before it can be exploited on a mass scale.

source: Todt, J., Morsbach, F., & Strufe, T. (2025). BFId: Identity Inference Attacks Utilizing Beamforming Feedback Information. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Rooman Sapienza-yliopiston tutkijat ovat kehittäneet WhoFi-järjestelmän, joka kykenee tunnistamaan ihmiset ilman kameraa pelkästään Wi-Fi-signaalien avulla. Ratkaisu hyödyntää langattomien reitittimien tuottamaa Channel State Information (CSI) -dataa, joka sisältää yksilöllisiä piirteitä ihmisen kehon rakenteesta, liikkeistä ja jopa sisäisestä koostumuksesta.

Käytännössä Wi-Fi-signaalin kulku vääristyy eri tavoin riippuen siitä, kuka sen tiellä liikkuu – ja tämä vääristymä toimii henkilön ainutlaatuisena “radio­biometrisena allekirjoituksena”.

Wi-Fi security usually means keeping virtual intruders off your network, but a new system claims to be able to use Wi-Fi networks to detect physical intruders. Gamgee’s Wi-Fi Home Alarm System can learn to recognize people and pets who belong there and alert you to strangers – or perhaps even when an elderly person takes a fall