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Wi-Fi/Wardriving

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War Driving (wôr dri'vin) v. Driving around looking for wireless networks. -term coined by Pete Shipley

The term wardriving generally covers the practice of discovering and mapping (with the help of GPS) the wireless networks available in a particular area. Useful statistics are gathered from this activity, including statistics on the encryption used in discovered networks. Wardriving does not include the unethical activity of unauthorised connection to wifi networks (encrypted or unencrypted).

WARNING: THE TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED ON THIS PAGE MAY BE ILLEGAL IN YOUR JURISDICTION. THIS PAGE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR LAWYER FOR MORE INFORMATION

Equipment

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To 'wardrive', you need the following equipment:

  • A computer (preferably a laptop or PocketPC, as they are far more portable)
  • A wifi card.
  • Transportation.
  • Software (Such as Netstumbler for Windows, Kismet for Linux, and KisMAC for Mac OS X)
  • A GPS receiver (optional but necessary to create a map)
  • External omnidirectional antenna, such as a Cantenna (optional)
  • External unidirectional antenna (optional)

How to Wardrive

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After you have installed and started your sniffing software and have activated your wireless card, you should configure your GPS adapter. After that, drive to the area that you wish to investigate and pick up signals of the active wifi networks.

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