Understanding Windows 10’s Wi-Fi Sense: An analysis

We have another significant update regarding Windows 10 that users should regard with increasing seriousness. Windows 10 now possesses a feature allowing it to share your Wi-Fi password without your direct permission, a significant shift from standard protocol.

This contentious feature is named Wi-Fi Sense. Once enabled, it permits contacts from Outlook/Hotmail and Skype to access your network, provided they fall within its range. This interesting functionality came under the spotlight through a report by Brian Krebs on his platform.

According to Krebs, the innovation, which Microsoft christens as Wi-Fi Sense, doesn’t literally share your Wi-Fi network password. Instead, it circulates an encrypted version of the password. While this protects the actual password from being publicly accessible, Wi-Fi Sense allows anyone from your Outlook, Skype, or Hotmail contact list to connect to your Wi-Fi network seamlessly whenever they’re in its proximity.

Existing commentary around this feature broadly points out that Wi-Fi Sense seeks to reassure Windows 10 users about the secure handling of their Wi-Fi password. It proposes that shared network passwords will be encrypted, stored securely on Microsoft’s server, and shared over a secure connection with Wi-Fi Sense users in the vicinity of your Wi-Fi network.

However, Microsoft made it clear that users have their say over the feature’s operation. Every time you connect to a new network, Wi-Fi Sense seeks your permission to share the network with your contacts. The people making use of your network won’t be privy to the original password – they’ll only gain access via the encrypted version. Microsoft’s ultimate aim, it seems, is to make the process of sharing network credentials less cumbersome for its users.

You can easily disable this automatic sharing by navigating to the ‘Network & Internet’ selection in the settings. Move on to the ‘Manage Wi-Fi Setting’ tab present under Wi-Fi and scroll until you encounter Wi-Fi Sense. From there, you can disable particular features or perhaps all that are visible.

Interestingly, Brian Krebs provides readers with a more permanent strategy to disable this function. To do this, rename your Wi-Fi network/SSID to include the terms “_nomap_optout” before upgrading to Windows 10. Once the upgrade is complete, alter the privacy settings in Windows 10 to disable the Wi-Fi Sense sharing function. Finally, take additional steps to bolster the security of your Wi-Fi network.

Moreover, in case you’re awaiting your free upgrade, you needn’t worry. The free upgrade will be made available to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users within the year once early birds have received their updates.