# Naming your Wi-Fi network after an FBI surveillance van



## Glaswegian

According to a media report out of San Antonio, the man recently accused of planning to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in Washington, DC, was not the sharpest tool in the box. However, if neighbour accounts are to be taken at face value, the same could be said of the FBI agents tasked with foiling his alleged plot.

It's unlikely, however, that those accounts are worth face value.

From a story on MySanAntonio.com: "Neighbours, however, said it had been years since (suspect Manssor) Arbabsiar lived in the stucco house he once shared with his wife on a suburban cul-de-sac. They said it appeared as many as 10 people were living in the house, and lately there had been some signs of suspicious activity: When residents looked for available Wi-Fi networks, names like "FBI Van 1" would pop up."

Really now. The idea that the FBI would be so foolish as to choose "FBI Van 1" for a Wi-Fi SSID landed the story on the front page of Fark, a social-bookmarking site that specialises and delights in skewering the stupid.

But could the FBI really have been that stupid?

Presuming it would be futile to ask the FBI directly, I did a bit of online searching and quickly turned up ample reason to believe that the answer is, "No, not that stupid."

In fact, the question had also come up as recently as this summer after news reports about an alleged plot to blow up a Tampa, Florida high school included assertions that the FBI had been busted using "FBI_SURVEILLANCE VAN" as an SSID.

No proof materialised, but the stories did elicit many accounts of people doing this sort of thing with their home Wi-Fi ... just for kicks. It's such a common gag, in fact - with so many variations - that "Police Surveillance Van 2" topped Mashable's list of favorite Wi-Fi names.

Case closed, right? Do not besmirch the FBI with this accusation any longer.

Well, hold on there a minute, J. Edgar, let's play devil's advocate (tongue-in-cheek style): If every wise guy on every block in America thinks it's funny to display "Surveillance Van" on their Wi-Fi - and if word of the joke has gotten around - wouldn't doing so offer the perfect cover for a real FBI surveillance van?

Think about that one as you're pulling back the curtain to take a peek out the window.


Naming your Wi-Fi network after an FBI surveillance van - Feature - Techworld.com


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## Wrench97

Good friend of mine brings his laptop over one day, I wasn't home so he starts telling my wife what was wrong.............mistake #1...................so then he decides it's best to show her, opens it up turns it on and it gets on the internet fine(he's been here enough that my ssid and password are in the list), so he turns it off and takes it back home.
When he gets back home he can't get on the net, the WIFI list only says You Need a Password Dummy. So back he comes.............. Mistake #2...... in the mean time I called home wife says Patsy having trouble with his laptop getting on the net so I stop at his house, his mother explains what happened I get out my laptop and see that the SSID on his router has been changed to You Need a Password Dummy, reset router used the my favorite key password, of course with his mom you have eat while your there, home made meat and cheese Ravioli, home made Italian bread w/home made fried hot peppers and red wine. So off to home I go to find he's sitting here eating a hot dog:grin: I told him hey you missed dinner it was good.................................


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