I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests

Mathieu Cunche; Mohamed Ali Kaafar; Roksana Boreli

doi:10.1109/WoWMoM.2012.6263700

I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests

Mathieu Cunche^*, Mohamed Ali Kaafar, Roksana Boreli

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Active service discovery in Wi-Fi involves wireless stations broadcasting their Wi-Fi fingerprint, i.e. the SSIDs of their preferred wireless networks. The content of those Wi-Fi fingerprints can reveal different types of information about the owner. We focus on the relation between the fingerprints and the links between the owners. Our hypothesis is that social links between devices owners can be identified by exploiting the information contained in the fingerprint. More specifically we propose to consider the similarity between fingerprints as a metric, with the underlying idea: similar fingerprints are likely to be linked. We first study the performances of several similarity metrics on a controlled dataset and then apply the designed classifier to a dataset collected in the wild. Finally we discuss how Wi-Fi fingerprint can reveal informations on the nature of the links between users. This study is based on a dataset collected in Sydney, Australia, composed of fingerprints corresponding to more than 8000 devices.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2012 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks
Subtitle of host publication	proceedings
Place of Publication	Piscataway
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Print)	9781467312394
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/WoWMoM.2012.6263700
Publication status	Published - 2012
Externally published	Yes
Event	13th IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, WoWMoM 2012 - San Francisco, CA, United States Duration: 25 Jun 2012 → 28 Jun 2012

Conference

Conference	13th IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, WoWMoM 2012
Country/Territory	United States
City	San Francisco, CA
Period	25/06/12 → 28/06/12

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10.1109/WoWMoM.2012.6263700

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@inproceedings{5dbd874b43b444439ebf4760ac0e81d0,

title = "I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests",

abstract = "Active service discovery in Wi-Fi involves wireless stations broadcasting their Wi-Fi fingerprint, i.e. the SSIDs of their preferred wireless networks. The content of those Wi-Fi fingerprints can reveal different types of information about the owner. We focus on the relation between the fingerprints and the links between the owners. Our hypothesis is that social links between devices owners can be identified by exploiting the information contained in the fingerprint. More specifically we propose to consider the similarity between fingerprints as a metric, with the underlying idea: similar fingerprints are likely to be linked. We first study the performances of several similarity metrics on a controlled dataset and then apply the designed classifier to a dataset collected in the wild. Finally we discuss how Wi-Fi fingerprint can reveal informations on the nature of the links between users. This study is based on a dataset collected in Sydney, Australia, composed of fingerprints corresponding to more than 8000 devices.",

author = "Mathieu Cunche and {Ali Kaafar}, Mohamed and Roksana Boreli",

year = "2012",

doi = "10.1109/WoWMoM.2012.6263700",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781467312394",

booktitle = "2012 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)",

address = "United States",

note = "13th IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, WoWMoM 2012 ; Conference date: 25-06-2012 Through 28-06-2012",

}

Cunche, M, Ali Kaafar, M & Boreli, R 2012, I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests. in 2012 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks: proceedings., 6263700, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Piscataway, 13th IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, WoWMoM 2012, San Francisco, CA, United States, 25/06/12. https://doi.org/10.1109/WoWMoM.2012.6263700

I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests. / Cunche, Mathieu; Ali Kaafar, Mohamed; Boreli, Roksana.
2012 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks: proceedings. Piscataway: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2012. 6263700.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests

AU - Cunche, Mathieu

AU - Ali Kaafar, Mohamed

AU - Boreli, Roksana

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Active service discovery in Wi-Fi involves wireless stations broadcasting their Wi-Fi fingerprint, i.e. the SSIDs of their preferred wireless networks. The content of those Wi-Fi fingerprints can reveal different types of information about the owner. We focus on the relation between the fingerprints and the links between the owners. Our hypothesis is that social links between devices owners can be identified by exploiting the information contained in the fingerprint. More specifically we propose to consider the similarity between fingerprints as a metric, with the underlying idea: similar fingerprints are likely to be linked. We first study the performances of several similarity metrics on a controlled dataset and then apply the designed classifier to a dataset collected in the wild. Finally we discuss how Wi-Fi fingerprint can reveal informations on the nature of the links between users. This study is based on a dataset collected in Sydney, Australia, composed of fingerprints corresponding to more than 8000 devices.

AB - Active service discovery in Wi-Fi involves wireless stations broadcasting their Wi-Fi fingerprint, i.e. the SSIDs of their preferred wireless networks. The content of those Wi-Fi fingerprints can reveal different types of information about the owner. We focus on the relation between the fingerprints and the links between the owners. Our hypothesis is that social links between devices owners can be identified by exploiting the information contained in the fingerprint. More specifically we propose to consider the similarity between fingerprints as a metric, with the underlying idea: similar fingerprints are likely to be linked. We first study the performances of several similarity metrics on a controlled dataset and then apply the designed classifier to a dataset collected in the wild. Finally we discuss how Wi-Fi fingerprint can reveal informations on the nature of the links between users. This study is based on a dataset collected in Sydney, Australia, composed of fingerprints corresponding to more than 8000 devices.

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SN - 9781467312394

BT - 2012 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

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I know who you will meet this evening! Linking wireless devices using Wi-Fi probe requests

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