I can't believe the number of unprotected...

[Kodo]

Wi-Fi nodes there are. I took my Ax out with me today. I launched my wireless sniffer and just ran my normal route to work. About 85% of the nodes had the default name for the router and about 65% of the nodes didn't have any security on them whatsoever. It's a war-drivers dream! People! use SOME sort of security on your Wi-Fi.. WEP or WPA , Mac Filtering. Something is better than nothing at all even if WEP is weak.

[evilevets]

What do you use for a wireless sniffer?


Steve

[Kodo]

WiFiFoFum was the only free one I could find that worked with my Axim.

There were over 110 nodes on my way to work that I picked up. One of them was by the airport lol and the SSID was Airport Base Station

[DavidGP]

yeah know what you mean, I was yesterday sorting out a wireless problem for a family member and up popped a neighbours unprotected open WiFi connection.

[Colemanguy]

Now have you tried minstumbler at netstumbler.org. I am sure you have but I have heard it does work with the axim's.

[Kodo]

Originally Posted by Colemanguy

Now have you tried minstumbler at netstumbler.org. I am sure you have but I have heard it does work with the axim's.

oooh. no.. but I will when I get home

[mcadam]

I know exactly what you mean Kodo, found 4 wireless networks in my road which consists of 40 houses that were all unprotected! No encryption at all! Files available to view, internet access that can be taken. I was thinking about leaving them all a message telling them to protect their network, but then wasn't sure how to go about it and didn't want to get into someone's network!

[augiedoggie]

Drive-by spammers just love these open networks. ::

[Freddy]

I just read a report that ISPs are loosing something like $4B in bandwidth fees due to unprotected hot-spots.

Looks like the wireless industry needs the same wake up call that MS went through before sp2. Encryption and authentication should be turned on by default.

Jeez, my cordless phone won't activate unless its been docked in its base. How hard can it be?

[g1lgam3sh]

Not that I would ever war-drive if I happened to be out and about , but it's the same over here

[scorcer]

Hey KODO ( and others in this thread) check out the cali wi-fi scene :

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PGJ0B006F1.DTL

[mcadam]

Originally Posted by g1lgam3sh

Not that I would ever war-drive if I happened to be out and about , but it's the same over here

whatever!!!!

[Freddy]

Ok people - just a timely reminder - using someone elses hotspots without their approval is theft of services - and because telephone and cable are regulated by the FCC its a federal crime.....

[bailmeout]

lounge off topics - non computer related damn
geeks
soon we will be describing girls in megapixels heh

[G.T.]

Originally Posted by Freddy

Ok people - just a timely reminder - using someone elses hotspots without their approval is theft of services - and because telephone and cable are regulated by the FCC its a federal crime.....

So is sharing copyrighted music, and we see how good a handle they've got on THAT.

[Colemanguy]

Actually from a post at netstumbler forums, then connecting to a complety unsecured wireless network isn't ilegal just immoral. Cracking someone wep key is ilegeal.

[animatress]

I guess I am one of those clueless people. Where exactly do you go to get protection for wireless connections? "security on your Wi-Fi.. WEP or WPA" what is that? Sorry I am behind the times, just upgraded from dial-up a couple weeks ago!

[Kodo]

WEP or WPA is typically built into your wire-less router. It is typically located under Wire-less security in the routers configuration. WEP and WPA are secuirty protocols used to encrypt data over your wifi network. They aren't very good protocols but they are better than nothing.

[goldfish]

Wardriving is not a crime!!!!

http://www.staticusers.net/wardrivingisnotacrime/

Its no more a crime than birdwatching!

To give you an idea of how insecure WEP is, you can break it in about half an hour provided there is considerably data being sent wirelessly (like p2p apps). But it is definatly better than nothing!

And Kodo: These networks may show up as unencrypted, but a lot of them probably have MAC filtering, which means other people cannot connect to the AP. However it still means you can sniff data being sent over the network, provided your network card supports promiscuous mode.

[Kodo]

Originally Posted by goldfish

Wardriving is not a crime!!!!

http://www.staticusers.net/wardrivingisnotacrime/

Its no more a crime than birdwatching!

To give you an idea of how insecure WEP is, you can break it in about half an hour provided there is considerably data being sent wirelessly (like p2p apps). But it is definatly better than nothing!

And Kodo: These networks may show up as unencrypted, but a lot of them probably have MAC filtering, which means other people cannot connect to the AP. However it still means you can sniff data being sent over the network, provided your network card supports promiscuous mode.

Yup, Fully aware of the legalities and Mac Filtering. Too bad I have to have my Axim exchanged so soon. It won't turn on when in sleep mode on battery. I have to take the battery out to get it to wake up. They are cross shipping me a new one at no cost.