Windows 10 brings along a new feature that has been available on Windows Phone 8.1 for a while. Called Wi-Fi Sense, it is supposed to make it easier to get your friends connected to your home Wi-Fi network without telling them the password.
It can work well but it seems many people aren’t too happy with the thought of their new Windows 10 computer sharing their Wi-Fi password with all of the people they have on Facebook, Skype and Outlook.com, which is what it tries to do by default.
Googling “windows 10 wifi sense” yields several links to articles with titles ranging from “Why the Hell is Windows 10 Sharing My Wifi Passwords” to “What is Wi-Fi Sense and Why Does It Want Your Facebook Account.” It seems what was originally a clever Windows Phone feature which attracted praise at the time has unexpectedly morphed into one of the biggest security scares on Windows 10.
It all started when The Register posted an article last month claiming that Wi-Fi Sense “smells like a security risk”. Other news outlets have followed suit over the past few weeks which has led to a general misunderstanding of the feature, as BetaNews noted at the time.
There are definitely occasions when having your computer sharing your Wi-Fi password could be bad but it’s not likely to be the great security risk some are making it out to be. Yes, Wi-Fi Sense does want to share your network password by default but it’s probably not going to be a huge issue.
Connecting to a Wi-Fi network in Windows 10 is much the same as in Windows 8. However, when connecting to a personal network, you’ll now see a new “Share network with my contacts” checkbox beneath the password entry box. This is ticked by default.
Leaving it set like this will enable the Wi-Fi Sense feature and give your Outlook, Skype and Facebook contacts access to the network when they are within range of it. Their device will detect that the network has been shared and request the password from your device. They will be granted access if they are one of your contacts but will never actually get to see the password.
The password is encrypted and distributed automatically from your Windows 10 or Windows 10 Mobile device to Windows 10 devices owned by your friends and in the vicinity of your router. It won’t share your password to iOS and Android devices — it’s a Windows 10 feature and only Windows 10 users will ever get your password.
The Wi-Fi Sense FAQ explains:
“For networks you choose to share access to, the password is sent over an encrypted connection and stored in an encrypted file on a Microsoft server, and then sent over a secure connection to your contacts’ (device) if they use Wi-Fi Sense and they’re in range of the Wi-Fi network you shared.”
Once connected, the guest user only has access to the Internet and nothing else. They can’t view details of other connected devices and neither can they access shared resources such as files or printers.
You can choose which social networks to connect with. You can use any combination of Outlook, Skype and Facebook so you can prevent your Facebook friends from ever getting access if you would like. The first time that you use Wi-Fi Sense, it will request access to your Facebook account and redirect you to a Facebook prompt that lets you confirm it’s allowed to use your account. Outlook and Skype connect automatically because they are linked to your Microsoft account used to login to Windows 10.
If you’d rather not use Wi-Fi Sense at all, it’s best to just disable it immediately. This can be done by going to the Settings app, navigating to Network & Internet and choosing Manage Wi-Fi Settings. You can also choose not to connect to networks that have been shared with you by your contacts.
Unfortunately, the settings options don’t go any further than this. A glaring omission is that sharing a network with friends means that they can also choose to share it on again — with their friends. It is possible to opt out of this but only by appending “_optout” to your network’s SSID (the name of the router). This isn’t going to please many people and it does seem as though there should be a proper setting for it that doesn’t involve editing the network’s own configuration.
Another issue is how Wi-Fi Sense goes about sharing to social networks. When Outlook, Skype and Facebook are connected, the password is shared with all of your contacts on those platforms. An option to share with only specific people would also be appreciated but, again, does not seem to be on the horizon.
Wi-Fi Sense isn’t just for network sharing with contacts though. It can automatically connect you to public Wi-Fi networks if you provide some basic personal details about yourself.
Most public Wi-Fi hotspots require you to sign-up the first time you use them. You typically have to enter some simple data such as your name and email address so that the operator can trace your identity in case of illegal activities on the hotspot. This registration is required by law in some areas.
Wi-Fi Sense can do this first step for you. Once you’ve provided your details, it will attempt to automatically connect you to open Wi-Fi networks. If the network sends through a sign-up form, Wi-Fi Sense will try to fill it out for you and get you signed up, automatically accepting terms and conditions if required. It means that you’re able to start browsing as soon as you’re connected, rather than being redirected to a login form first and entering the same details as always.
As a Windows Phone user, I’ve been using both aspects of Wi-Fi Sense for nearly a year on my Nokia Lumia 1520. I’ve infrequently used the network sharing with contacts, partly because not many of my friends actually own Windows Phones. On the one occasion that it could have been used, the feature did not appear to work and the guest device did not sign-in to my network, despite my phone having all the sharing options enabled.
I’ve had much more success with the automatic sign-in to public networks. I set this up the day that my Lumia got Windows Phone 8.1, just over a year ago. I haven’t made any changes since and it remains a pleasant surprise to find that I am connected to Wi-Fi in a new town or shop.
It doesn’t always work but that is to be expected. Some networks may require additional data that Wi-Fi Sense can’t provide or the registration form may be in a format that it can’t reply to. I’ve had a reasonable success rate though and in my experience it is a useful feature.
Wi-Fi Sense is probably nothing to worry about for most people. Enabling it by default may have been a bad choice on Microsoft’s part though.
The most major concern is how shared networks can be shared on again, potentially allowing friends of friends of friends into your network. Even so, to successfully attack the system, a hacker would have to become a friend of a friend, actually park outside your house, connect to the router and then spend time decrypting the password to gain full access to your network.
In the end, it’s up to you whether you use Wi-Fi Sense or not. If you don’t think you ever will then you’ll probably want to disable it. If you think that you might then it should be safe enough to leave it on – after all, Windows Phone users have had this for over a year and there wasn’t any such uproar back then.
