How to stop Google from knowing all your WiFi passwords
Android's backup and reset feature looks on first glance like a great feature. It backs up app data, Wi-Fi passwords and other settings to Google servers, so that you can restore them at a later point in time. This can come in handy if you lose access to your phone and get a new one. Instead of having to enter the data again manually, you simply restore it to have access to it again right away.
Most Android users have the setting probably enabled by default, and those who do are not likely to object to it at all. A issue however came to light recently. If WiFi passwords are backed up as well, it means that Google can in theory access those passwords.
Some may suggest that Google is using a password or other means of protection, like it does on Chrome, so that the company cannot read the data. But if you have ever lost access to your phone and bought a new one, you may have noticed that the restore feature added hotspot and password information back to the phone automatically and without you having to enter any password or other data before that happened.
This means that Google can read the data. Even if you think that Google won't read it, it is still bound by law. And since Google is a US company, it can be asked to provide information without being allowed to talk about it.
If you look at the big picture, you will notice an alarming situation. With more than 750 million Android phones being sold in 2013 alone, Google sits on a goldmine of WiFi data. Even if Google does not access it at all, it may be forced to share the data in the US.
Block the transmission of WiFi passwords in Android
I checked my Samsung Galaxy Note II phone and noticed that it too was set to backup data to Google automatically. What you need to do is disable the feature to block the passwords from being submitted to Google. This disables the back up feature of the phone, so that you need to take other precautions, like backing up all data locally so that you have full control over it at any time.
Here are the steps to turn the feature off:
- Open the settings of your phone or tablet.
- Select Back up and reset.
- Uncheck the back up my data option.
Google notes that unchecking the option will stop the backup and delete all existing data on Google servers as well.
If you want to be extra-careful, change the WiFi passwords that you have used in the past.
Please note that the steps may be different depending on your Android version and phone manufacturer. On Android 2.x, you need to select Settings > Privacy and then the back up option displayed there. It is interesting to note that you won't find WiFi passwords mentioned here at all.
You find additional coverage of the issue over at Micaflee's blog, The Register and Tech Republic.
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Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?