Windows 10 Shares Your Wi-Fi With Contacts

So it seems I had tweeted a link to a story in The Register last month, but apparently I forgot to post the item here:

Nothing could possibly go wrong. Windows 10 will share your Wi-Fi password with your friends’ friends: http://t.co/exyrzhg78i #infosec

— Dissent Doe (@PogoWasRight) June 30, 2015

“Nothing could possibly go wrong. Windows 10 will share your Wi-Fi password with your friends’ friends: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/30/windows_10_wi_fi_sense/?mt=1438219104333 #infosec”

Thankfully, Brian Krebs reported on the topic today, so you can read all about it on his site, now, too:

Starting today, Microsoft is offering most Windows 7 and Windows 8 users a free upgrade to the software giant’s latest operating system — Windows 10. But there’s a very important security caveat that users should know about before transitioning to the new OS: Unless you opt out, Windows 10 will by default share your Wi-Fi network password with any contacts you may have listed in Outlook and Skype — and, with an opt-in, your Facebookfriends.

This brilliant new feature, which Microsoft has dubbed Wi-Fi Sense, doesn’t share your WiFi network password per se — it shares an encrypted version of that password. But it does allow anyone in your Skype or Outlook or Hotmail contacts lists to waltz onto your Wi-Fi network — should they ever wander within range of it or visit your home (or hop onto it secretly from hundreds of yards away with a good ‘ole cantenna!).