Comment by mechanicalpulse
3 hours ago
It's possible that he's taking "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" to its logical if unhealthy extreme by interpreting every ambiguous 802.11 frame as one with ill intent. However, just because he's paranoid doesn't mean there aren't misaligned people, devices, and applications out there probing networks.
It's probably a good idea for anyone to check themselves every now and then by playing Angel's Advocate just as much as they might play Devil's Advocate, but I don't think rejecting his premises out of hand with a drive-by diagnosis is all that helpful.
Fair enough, but in this case there are several massive red flags that OP was experiencing a variant of "targeted individual" delusion. (The confidence without evidence that their neighbor was a determined hacker group, using a complex zero-day to attack them at home personally, tie-ins to fear/belief of this being a widespread phenomenon).
I had a stretch of a year or so a decade ago where I was going through something very similar, down to the belief a hacker group was targeting my WiFi network despite the great lengths I was going to secure it during the setup process inside an RF shielded area, yet they still kept "getting in" somehow... so I recognize the signs.
If OP can re-read their comment later on in a different mindset, they may start to notice things that felt so certain at the time don't actually add up logically in retrospect, that's how I ended up breaking out of it eventually.