Wi-Fi Signals Can Now Identify You Without Devices or Cameras, Raising New Privacy Fears

A new technology developed by researchers at La Sapienza University of Rome could transform how individuals are identified in connected environments and reignite urgent debates over privacy. In a breakthrough that bypasses traditional biometrics, the research team has demonstrated that a person can be re-identified solely based on how their body alters surrounding Wi-Fi signals. 

The method, called WhoFi, leverages the unique way each person’s physical presence disturbs electromagnetic waveforms. Unlike facial recognition, fingerprint scans, or phone-based tracking, WhoFi requires no cameras or wearable devices. 

It can passively track people in any area blanketed by Wi-Fi coverage, making it both powerful and controversial.

“As a Wi-Fi signal moves through an environment, it interacts with the objects and people in its path. These interactions subtly change the signal’s characteristics, and those changes carry biometric information,” the researchers explain. 

The team composed of computer scientists Danilo Avola, Daniele Pannone, Dario Montagnini, and Emad Emam used variations in Wi-Fi channel state information (CSI), such as amplitude and phase shifts, to build what they call a person’s “Wi-Fi signature.” 

These invisible disturbances are distinct enough to allow for precise re-identification.

To prove the concept, the researchers trained a transformer-ba

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