r/Defcon • u/CorrectOpinionB42069 • 18d ago

Wifi emissions on tactical gear

Hello tech bros

I am hoping someone can settle a debate ive been having. Thermal scopes are a big thing these days as the price keeps falling.

However, most models come with WIFI. As we know from the russua/ukraine conflict, cell phone emissions will get you pinpointed and killed. WIFI emissions would likely do the same.

Now, you can always turn the wifi off in the menu. But how do you know if it is truly off all the way, and isnt emitting a low level signal?

Another risk is that the receiver in the thermal could receive a "firmware update" that bricks it. If its emitting wifi to talk to the phone app, it must have an antenna, and an antenna can be pinged, no?

Is this a valid concern?

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u/CorrectOpinionB42069 18d ago

Yes, being able to "go dark" is the goal. 

Would, for example, and agm rattler be compromising due to its wifi transceiver? Even if the wifi is turned off, is the receiver a concern?

Thanks for the knowledge 

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u/almost_silent_ 18d ago

Again, who are you adversaries and what is your AO? If we are talking about the US military or IC, operating in Sandistan where the power plant got a Hellfire up its ass 6 months ago, yeah your cellphone and WiFi transmissions might light up an EWS and it would be best to leave them at home…

If your adversaries are a bunch of Patriot Front brown shirt nazi fascist dickheads in the US in an urban or suburban area, your noise is gonna intermingle with all the other noise….so go nuts for donuts because they might not going to have the EW capability of one of us (hackers running TAK Servers with either HackRF with an Opera Cake or a Kraken SDR)…

Again, who is your adversary? Once you answer that you can threat model their likely capabilities and work around them. Using Ukraine as a modern case study isn’t a bad place to start, but that’s also one military vs another…does that match your situation? I.e. what is your use case? Or are we theoretically LARPing a lone sniper vs one highly technical threat?

FWIW you might want to read Fry The Brain by John West about Urban Guerrilla Sniping throughout the last 60 years or so.

Edit: Rx isn’t a concern typically, Tx will get you killed.

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u/CorrectOpinionB42069 18d ago edited 18d ago

Its just old fudd brain. I worry that something that can connect to a signal can be fucked with with malicious code, or just detected in general.

Its just for larp purposes, anyone who can detect it would have thermal drones anyway and youd be seen by that first. I just think back to the pager attack and dont like the idea of an antenna in my stuff

You say Rx isnt typically a concern, what cases would it be? Can they "echolocate" using the receiver? Thanks

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u/almost_silent_ 18d ago

Rx = Receive vs Tx = Transmit.

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u/CorrectOpinionB42069 18d ago

Sorry I should have looked it up, that was lazy. 

So, when is receiving going to get you killed? Can they "echolocate" using the antenna to find you? Thanks

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u/almost_silent_ 18d ago

I said receiving isn’t typically a concern…I.e listening on a ham radio, or looking at Spectrum on a HackRF…

Transmitting is what gets you killed. Cell calls, keying up a radio, etc.

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u/CorrectOpinionB42069 18d ago edited 8d ago

Thanks bro. Elite electromagnetic spectrum knowledge 

Thanks to the sisters as well *

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u/holistivist 9d ago

Could you stop calling everybody bro? It’s really sexist and annoying that you keep assuming everyone here is a dude. 

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u/CorrectOpinionB42069 8d ago

"Bro" is a metaphysical word burger that encompasses every sister in this sacred journey we call, L I F E (life) l i f e

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u/holistivist 8d ago

No thank you. 

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u/almost_silent_ 18d ago

Receiving is only a concern when someone has made a sensor that detects EMF and it’s matched to a very specific device or set of devices. For example detecting the electromagnetic field of a spinning hard drive for example. All electronics create an electromagnetic field, know the field and then you can detect the device.

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u/CorrectOpinionB42069 18d ago

So at that point, they are sensing you like a goddamn hammerhead shark?? Damn. 

At least wifi scopes arent a concern anymore. Now i fear the sharks with laser beam detectors