The Invisible Broadcast
When you attempt to connect to a “Hidden Network” in Ubuntu, you must manually enter the SSID (the network name) because the router is not publicly broadcasting its presence. Once you successfully connect, Ubuntu saves this profile. The problem arises with how Ubuntu manages auto-connections to hidden networks. Because the network isn’t broadcasting, your laptop must constantly shout the hidden SSID into the void, asking, “Are you there?” everywhere you go. If you set a hidden network to connect automatically, your Ubuntu laptop becomes a beacon, constantly broadcasting the name of your home or office network to everyone nearby, completely defeating the privacy purpose of hiding the network in the first place.
Disabling the Beacon
To protect your location privacy and stop Ubuntu from automatically attempting to connect to hidden networks (and thus broadcasting their names), you must disable the auto-connect feature specifically for those profiles.
Click the network icon in the top-right corner of the Ubuntu top panel and select Settings. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Wi-Fi. Under the “Known Networks” section, look for the profile you created for your hidden network. Click the small gear icon next to its name to open its advanced settings. A new dialogue box will appear. Look closely at the bottom of the first tab for a checkbox explicitly labelled Connect automatically. You must uncheck this box. Click Apply in the top right corner of the dialogue box to save the change. Moving forward, you will have to manually select the network from your list when you arrive at that specific location, but your laptop will remain completely silent when you are traveling.