WarDriving!
#1
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WarDriving!
Finally got the budget for my setup. Now have a nice mag mount aerial on the roof, Netstumbler and MS Mappoint. Shocking first test, I drove for ten minutes in Aylesbury and found 68 access points, 38 of which were unsecured. This was on the ring road, can't wait to get out again into the housing estates. Quick visit to the corner shop for chalk in bulk on the way home.
#4
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I can't go looking at the networks themselves, bit too naughty. I have a nice script for Netstumbler that speaks the network name and states if it's open, I might get a loudhailer and wire that up
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Originally Posted by JackClark
Finally got the budget for my setup. Now have a nice mag mount aerial on the roof, Netstumbler and MS Mappoint. Shocking first test, I drove for ten minutes in Aylesbury and found 68 access points, 38 of which were unsecured. This was on the ring road, can't wait to get out again into the housing estates. Quick visit to the corner shop for chalk in bulk on the way home.
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38 unsecured
I shouldn't be surprised really - I've found open access points in corporate networks, so you can't really blame the average home punter for not having worked it out
Jack - I would be interested in your little script that speaks the name
Chris
I shouldn't be surprised really - I've found open access points in corporate networks, so you can't really blame the average home punter for not having worked it out
Jack - I would be interested in your little script that speaks the name
Chris
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#8
#9
'Shocking first test, I drove for ten minutes in Aylesbury and found 68 access points, 38 of which were unsecured. This was on the ring road, can't wait to get out again into the housing estates. Quick visit to the corner shop for chalk in bulk on the way home.'
I'm lost here. What are secured acess points etc?
I'm lost here. What are secured acess points etc?
#10
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Basically a person with less ethics than Jack could attach their PC to these unsecured networks and a) use that person's internet access b) browse that person's files/network.
Both of those potential options might not result in a good thing for the person who left their network open.
Best thing is to secure your Wireless Network by use of the inbuilt encryption and other security options & not risk Jack leaving a rude message on your home PC
Both of those potential options might not result in a good thing for the person who left their network open.
Best thing is to secure your Wireless Network by use of the inbuilt encryption and other security options & not risk Jack leaving a rude message on your home PC
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This means that Jack found 68 routers or access points advertising them self.
All wireless routers broadcasat them self (unless you turn this off) so that people can connect to them. However most people get carried away and excited that they have got thier broadband/ADSL connection sorted and that the wireless is working they forget to protect it.
Darren
All wireless routers broadcasat them self (unless you turn this off) so that people can connect to them. However most people get carried away and excited that they have got thier broadband/ADSL connection sorted and that the wireless is working they forget to protect it.
Darren
#14
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Steve YHM
It would be very easy to discover printers on the open networks and print a nice info sheet on securing your network. But it's against the law.
Just made another loop and found 45 open out of 65! I'm yet to find a Belkin router using WEP.
It would be very easy to discover printers on the open networks and print a nice info sheet on securing your network. But it's against the law.
Just made another loop and found 45 open out of 65! I'm yet to find a Belkin router using WEP.
#16
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True with my setup as I'm only detecting broadcasted SSID's, there's plenty of software out there such as Kismet or Airsnort that will still find the acess point regardless of SSID broadcast.
Originally Posted by Legacy4x4Turbo
Is it the case the, that if you switch off the broadcasting of the SSID, the you wil not pick up the broadcasting signal?????
phil
phil
#18
Originally Posted by warrenm2
and if you dig a bit deeper into it, even the secured networks arent really secured - the WEP standard is easily crackable - takes about 5 mins
#21
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>Is there any info anywhere about how to secure wireless networks etc?
Try the the manual for your router. Start with WEP then look at MAC address filtering if you want to go the extra mile.
Try the the manual for your router. Start with WEP then look at MAC address filtering if you want to go the extra mile.
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Jack - thanks I'll check my email.
Yes it does Chris - you would still need to sample around 7 gigs worth a data to collect enough info to even have a chance of cracking WEP - even in 64 bit format. 5 mins implies an extremely active AP and one fast mother of a PC to do the cracking. In theory WEP is crackable in seconds using programs such as WEPcrack or Airsnort. Most commercial networks I work on don't send that level of data, so for the average home user you would be typically looking at around 2 - 4 weeks to collect enough data - so in practical terms, cracking WEP is not as easy as it is made out to be.
WEP isn't brilliant by commerical standards, but it is better than nothing and for all intents and purposes - it will secure your network. Based on what Jack wrote, as a hacker why would you waste your time trying to crack WEP when half the APs are unsecured in the first place?
Chris
Originally Posted by ChrisB
That implies a very busy AP to sample enough WEP data doesn't it though?
WEP isn't brilliant by commerical standards, but it is better than nothing and for all intents and purposes - it will secure your network. Based on what Jack wrote, as a hacker why would you waste your time trying to crack WEP when half the APs are unsecured in the first place?
Chris
#23
I'm using 128bit WEP encryption and MAC filtering on mine (only 1 MAC address allowed at the moment). Would you say that's adequate or will a determined hacker still be able to get in?
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Yep Iwan, as Jack said - that's fine. Computer security (especially home PCs) is like a car alarm. If it acts as a strong enough deterent that it means the little ****** will go and nick someone elses car then it has been a success. So many people don't know the basics of security that there are rich pickings for hackers. They don't need to try that hard to be honest. If you are taking reasonable steps to protect yourself, then a hacker will look elsewhere for an easy target.
#27
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That's fine. Why bother trying to find your network when some housing estates local to me have near blanket coverage of open networks.
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Alex - you could also turn off DHCP and assign static IPs to your internal machines and limit PCs that can attach to your AP by specifying MAC addresses. Also you should change the SSID from its default setting (it can be anything you want). I have a lovely spreadsheet that details just about every WiFi equipment manufacturer and their default SSIDs
Chris
Chris
#29
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Any chance I can have a copy of that Chris? It'll save me some typing.
Originally Posted by Chris L
I have a lovely spreadsheet that details just about every WiFi equipment manufacturer and their default SSIDs
Chris
Chris