Every now and then I login to my router at home to do some minor network management tasks and check out what is connected out of curiosity. The last few times I have noticed something called “GainSpand14d95” in the list.<\/p>\n
Obviously, this begs the question, what is it?<\/p>\n
I could rule out all of the major devices such as PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets as they all identify themselves with familiar hostnames. The Wi-Fi printer has a weird name starting with HP so that wasn’t it either.<\/p>\n
What it ended up being was the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi scales that I bought a while ago. The Wi-Fi module inside the scale is provided by GainSpan but the device itself provides no way to change the hostname of the device (nor can you change it using the installer that you can run on a suitable computer). Not a huge security concern as I now know what the device is on the network but understandably could freak some people out if they happen to glance at the list of devices connected to the network.<\/p>\n
Fitbit might consider changing the default name to something mentioning “Fitbit” or “Aria” to save people from unnecessary concern.<\/p>\n
Update: 09\/07\/2015:<\/strong><\/p>\n It seems that GainSpan provide Wi-Fi modules that go inside a myriad of other devices (not just the Fitbit Aria) so you might want to take that into consideration when you are tracking down devices on your Wi-Fi network. Thanks to Sean for that tidbit \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every now and then I login to my router at home to do some minor network management tasks and check out what is connected out of curiosity. The last few times I have noticed something called “GainSpand14d95” in the list. Obviously, this begs the question, what is it? I could rule out all of the … <\/p>\n