I've read that if I use someone else's wifi I can be identified by checking the DHCP for IP users?

Question

I've read that if I use someone else's wifi I can be identified by checking the DHCP for IP users, my question is how likely are you to be caught if you went to a large unit complex in a nearby suburb and sat in their courtyard and used one of the many unsecured connections your likely to find?

Just how likely are you going to be found if you live miles away?

Answer 1

The most they could really do to identify you is to get your MAC address, which their WiFi router will happily tell them.

What can they do?  Most likely, they'll simply tell their router to refuse to accept your MAC address, thereby cutting you off.

However, if they have someone knowledgeable in this area, they could attempt to identify you by examining the network traffic coming from your computer, perhaps even "sniffing" the packets and getting your e-mail address if you read your e-mail while connected though them. (Remember, everything that you do on their network can be recorded.)

If you "live miles away", then you're not going to be able to connect to their WiFi, which has a range of only a few hundred feet max.

Answer 2

You can't really be identified personally through just the IP address.  The DHCP just assigns IP addresses to people using the wi-fi access point.  They could check the MAC addresses, which identify your network adapter.  Those are unique for each network adapter.  (I know that they can be spoofed, but they are generally unique.)

The fact is that using someone else's wi-fi is risky.  Someone could set up a honeypot and harvest your usernames and passwords for websites you use.  If you're just reading a newspaper website or looking up directions on Google maps, you are probably not going to give away sensitive information.  If you are doing your banking this way, you could wind up with your identity stolen.