Wireless Features

Introduction

By now everyone has heard of wardriving, or maybe even Warflying. Wardrivers find wireless access points (WAPs) by driving around and using laptops with wireless cards. They typically track the WAPs using free and simple programs such as NetStumbler for Windows or Kismet for Linux.

The whole point of wardriving is not to hack into the wireless network, but to see how many WAPs you can find. It is also interesting to find out what vendors are the most popular and how far you can receive a signal. Hackers are generally not a destructive bunch, but they are very curious.

Screenshot during a ride on the Taipei Mass Rail Train (MRT)

Since I am already in Taipei for the Computex 2004 show, I decided to do a little wireless snooping. With wireless laptop in tow, I rode the Taipei mass transit system (called wartraining), then walked around the World Trade Center area (called warwalking), and finally rode a taxi around town (called wartaxiing). The results are surprising.

Equipment Used

All the tools you need for wardriving

You don't need that much equipment to wardrive. You can go all out and spend thousands of dollars for tricked out antennas and wireless cards, but you can get by with what I used in the picture.

• Laptop with optional IrvineUnderground sticker
  • IrvineUnderground is a large hacker group (about 50 members) based in Irvine, California
• Wireless PC Card
  • I prefer Cisco Aironet cards, but you can use pretty much any vendor
• Auditor Security Collection CD
  • The BEST network hacking CD ever made! Plus it is free!
• Oakley sunglasses to hide my identity