Story · Field notes
Two unknown devices on my wifi
Two unfamiliar devices on the home network. Packet capture on the router, forced reconnects, Wireshark — and a slightly embarrassing conclusion.
Recently I noticed two devices on my wifi that I could not account for. The correct response to that is not panic — it is a packet capture.
I started sniffing packets directly on my MikroTik router, then forced the mystery devices to reconnect so I could watch them introduce themselves. The capture went into Wireshark for a proper look.
The verdict: one device was my son’s school planning tablet — I am still not sure who put it on my wifi, but fine — and the other was a Tibber Pulse energy meter I had installed and completely forgotten about.
No intruders, then. Just inventory. But that is rather the point: the same instinct that debugs a flaky test pipeline works on a home network too — capture first, theorise later. And it was fun.
Have a system that needs this kind of attention?
Tell us where your current testing approach breaks down. We will help you define a practical path forward.
Talk to WhileOne