The peach emoji can actually make your Wi-Fi safer

In a past life there was a PCWorld print magazine, and I wrote a monthly column for it.

The column was called “Privacy Watch” and it was all about tools and tips you could use to safeguard your PC against hackers and snoops. Every month I’d do my best to help readers with everything from building stronger passwords (or just adopting a good password manager) to securing their Wi-Fi network, and I had a blast doing it.

I mention all this just so you understand that while I’m no infosec expert, I’ve been covering and writing about digital privacy and security for awhile now. Even so, I had no clue that a few emoji could be the key to making my Wi-Fi networks basically unhackable by anyone but the most cutting-edge bad guys.

But that’s what I learned this week on The Full Nerd, thanks to recurring guest (and accomplished ethical hacker) Mike Danseglio (CEH & CISSP).

Mike has kindly agreed to join us a few times to talk PCs and security in the past, whether it was running down some of the worst ways to troubleshoot a PC last year (he also worked in tech support at Microsoft in the ’90s) or arguing the merits of using guest networks to safeguard your home Wi-Fi with our own resident security maven (and Safe Mode newsletter author) Alaina Yee. But this week, he dropped a banger of a Wi-Fi security tip that blew my mind in its simplicity.

See, according to Mike, all modern methods of hacking Wi-Fi networks aren’t set up to recognize or use the emoji character set. So if you toss a few of your favorites into your Wi-Fi network name and password, odds seem extremely good that you just made it uncrackable—at least, until some bad guy figures this out and starts to build emoji support into password crackers.

“You can use emoji in access point names and passwords,” said Danseglio. “Putting an emoji in your access point name and your password breaks all of the current tools that are available to hack Wi-Fi.”

Of course, that assumes that every device you’re planning to connect to your network is able to read modern emoji and input them as well. If you have older hardware or devices with limited inputs (like some e-readers and printers, for example), putting a few 🍑 🤨 🚗 in your Wi-Fi network credentials could play havoc with your setup.

But even if you can’t make practical use of this information, just understanding the ways in which programs work (or don’t work) on your PC can teach you so much about the inner workings of these tools and systems that we trust with so much of our lives. It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about getting into the hobby of building, modifying, and upgrading PCs: You end up learning a ton about the tech that basically runs the modern world around us, and that goes a long way towards making that world seem less alien and scary when things don’t work the way they should.

In this week’s episode of The Full Nerd

When infosec expert Mike Danseglio stopped by the show this week to chat with regular cohosts Adam Patrick Murray and Alaina Yee, he didn’t just focus on Wi-Fi security. They got into a wide-ranging discussion that touched on everything from kernel-level anti-cheat systems in games to what cool hacks came out of DEFCON 2026 this year.

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And of course, they wrapped up by taking some of your questions from the chat and our TFN Discord!

Nerd news of the week

As much as I wish I could tell you that the biggest news of the week is prices dropping on memory and storage, the sad truth is we’re nowhere near there yet. But there’s still some cool stuff happening in the world of tech, as well as some wild stories about new humanoid robots and hidden scripts that are being used to create a unique fingerprint of your PC using silent audio.

• Two architectures on one chip: Arm and IBM team up in a legendary crossover: IBM and Arm are teaming up to fabricate a new chip on a 2nm node that can run both IBM’s zOS and Arm-based Linux environments and software, no emulation required. But it’s unlikely we’ll get to test one anytime soon, as the chip is advertised for use in “enterprise environments” and large-scale organizations.
• AliExpress allegedly uses your browser’s audio system to fingerprint your PC: If you’ve ever shopped at AliExpress, it’s possible the site was running scripts that generated audio you couldn’t hear that could be used to uniquely identify you and your PC. It’s a wild story, and a good reminder to be careful when browsing!
• Lawsuit demands Logitech hand tariff refunds over to customers: If you’re feeling the pain of price hikes on PC gear, the news that some folks have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Logitech may bring you some schadenfreude. The complaint alleges Logitech raised prices to remain profitable in the face of “illegal tariffs,” and now that the company will be reimbursed by the federal government the plaintiffs would like to see some of that refund.
• Unitree’s newest humanoid can reportedly beat Usain Bolt’s personal record: Chinese robotics company Unitree has built a humanoid robot that can run just over 28 miles per hour and jump over six feet high from a standstill. I, Robot, here we come!

That’s your Full Nerd newsletter for this week. For more, be sure to bookmark PCWorld and subscribe to the PCWorld YouTube channel! Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website!

This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.