🚨 Heads up, TP-Link router owners:
You might have a mesh network automatically enabled that you didn't know existed. #cososec
Hidden Networks in TP-Link Routers | Jahed Ahmed
https://jahed.dev/2021/12/19/hidden-networks-in-tp-link-routers/
First comment in this HN thread explains a bit more what these "hidden" networks really are:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item
@voltronic so the additional network is there to pair new network devices or new devices on the network? Also odd .11s doesn’t do SSIDs.
@Smersh
It's the first one, new network devices. My understanding is that if you were to buy any TP-Link mesh routers, your existing router that has this (previously unused) pre-configured network would immediately become integrated into the mesh network.
(We are mesh. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.)
I didn't know that about 802.11s either, never having owned any mesh routers.
@voltronic @Smersh I think you'd still need to manually "pair" a new mesh node, it wouldn't connect automatically.
Or at least that's how it works with all the mesh gear I've used. You power on the second node and tell the first "hey look for the new guy", and then have to confirm that it found the right one.
Or in the case of Google Wifi, you scan the new node's QR code in the app to tell the primary node specifically which device to look for.