War Driving with Network Stumbler!

 
If you live in any major city then you are literally surrounded by thousands of wireless networks. From individual homes to small businesses to large corporations. And the surprising thing is that more that 50% of those are not secure. In this post I'm going to tell you how you can sniff these wireless networks down and get into its router config page. And I'll tell you a way that if it is secured using WEP or any other popular encryption system how to break that password and get in. But that will be the next post. Now, I must say that this information is purely for your knowledge in order for you to better secure you network. What ever you do with this information is entirely on you!

    OK, now the first thing that you will need to do is to download a program of the web. Network Stumbler is a free program that will allow you to find these wireless networks. You can find the download  HERE  .  Once you install it, all you need is a wireless card and a laptop. Pretty much any wireless card will work but if you really want to do it right you may want to get a card that will allow you to attach an external antenna up to it to improve your range. One of the best wireless cards for this is an the pro Orinoco Card. You can get these at buy.com . All you need to do is start the program up and presto, that's it! In my experience's, I started the program up, hopped in my car and drove about 5 blocks. And since I'm in Chicago, in just that little time I'd say about 15-20 wireless networks for detected and most of them were unsecured. Whats nice about this program is that it gives you so much information about any given network such as the IP address, type of router, if  it's secure or not, it's SSID, signal strength and so forth.

    Now when you find yourself a unsecured wireless network, you can go ahead and tap into it and use the Internet or if they have a network setup you can see what is on there network. And chances are that the SSID is going to be set on the default, and if the user hasn't changed the SSID  then they most likely are going to have the default user name and password to get into there router config. For example, If it is a linksys router, the user name will be admin and password will be admin. And once you can get into the router config page, you can pretty much do anything you wish.
   
    Most wireless routers are ready to go right out of the box. You can just plug them in and your set. But with this convenience comes insecurities. You see, for manufacturers to supply the routers like this, the routers have to have most if not all of there security features disabled. That is why you can find SO many unsecured wireless networks. Because of ignorance.  So, if you are new to the wireless scene then maybe this will give you a few ideas on how to make your network secure. And if your familiar with it well then this is an exciting little program to mess around with.

    My next post will show you a program that can break a password for most wireless networks so make sure you come back for that post. Till then, have fun.

Zimer

   

Comments

[Enigmus]

Looking forward to your next post! Finally got my own laptop but unfortunately universities in Louisiana primarily new orleans are the top unwired schools. My school does have it but they do not allow personal laptops on their networks. Leaves me in a bind when the only hotspot in campus is secured when I badly need a paper printed at the office i work at. (student worker)

[Jim]

So armed with a laptop. What OS do i need? Linux or XP?

[jessica freeman]

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