War-Driving

Did anybody here ever go war-driving?
For those who doesn't know, war driving is taking a laptop with wifi card and driving around the city trying to find hot-spots and maybe hitch a ride on free wifi internet. I did it once, while being stuck in traffic. I wasn't driving, so I wipped out the laptop and started scanning the area... it was fun for some reason, and the fun most part was actually being able to connect to some and ride the internet
By the way, the internet I am using to write this message is from a nearby collage, but it's not stealing, they allow it for everybody.

i did try it while travelling on a train but it moves too fast! All the stations seem to have wireless though!!

The only time i have really been successful is at my girlfriends house, i was sitting in the living room and at that time they did not have wireless but a wireless signal appeared! I managed to connect, surf the web and log into their router (yes they had not changed the default password !!)

Many people aren't aware that changing a simple password is all that is needed to at least have minimal protection. Many companies that install in customers's houses are leaving the default settings.

Where I work, our wireless network was wide open. I have now
turned of the broadcast of the ssid
turned on wep
changed the admin password
I would like to have turned on the MAC Address stuff as well but
that would break how our network is supposed to work. Well
according to my boss anyway. It would only take take a second to
allow a legit but blocked laptop. I have to sort out the wireless
key for them anyhoo.

There are another 3 networks in range. 2 of which are wide open.
One of our sales people was surfing the net for 3 months through
someone elses network without realising it

yeah, i always change it for them and then write it down for them, i just hope they don't loose the piece of paper!!

I always setup WEP too and for most people that is fine i think !

yeah i have the mac address stuff setup at home!! Makes it more secure for me

Likewise. Its not unbeatable, but it all helps

yep! and tbh i don't think there is anyone that can get close enough to my house without me noticing!! And i only have a 802.11b network so I should be good

I don't understand how companies are keeping wireless networks safe. WEP encription is crackable in 15 minutes, and I think that the MAC filter is also breakable. So how do you keep a company safe?


You would be surprised how easy it is to stay close enough to a house without getting noticed. But then again, most people wouldn't bother with a private connection.

You can't, but you can stop accidental connections and you can at least stop
those without the knowledge from getting in. I've argued for a wired network, but
the disruption the wiring phase would cause.. would be enormous.

true, most people won't bother with a private connection!