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Modern Wardriving (2023)

simonroses.com

21–30 of 72 posts

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#21
post #2

A friend and I used to do this, using the USB GPS reciever from Microsoft Streets and Trips, and then an Orinoco PC Card that let us use an external antenna that we got from a Linksys home AP/router. It was fun seeing all the networks on the map when we got home. I think the original plan was to send out flyers to these businesses offering networking/IT services but we never got that far (especially to the ones with…

I had a magnetic mount antenna on my car and a marine GPS that I used with Netstumbler sometime around 2001. I used an Orinoco PC Card adapter, too. I remember the external antenna connection was very fiddly and fragile. I would run the rig anytime I had a long trip to take. It was fun to see the relatively huge number of networks around bigger cities, as compared to the sparseness of rural Ohio where I lived.

I still remember a few of the more amusing network names when I drive past their locations. I can't ever drive on I-75 south of Bowling Green, OH without thinking of "Chickenfeet".

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#22
post #10

In 1895 a young Italian studying Maxwell's equations wondered if perhaps you didn't need wires to send an electromagnetic message, and after months of tinkering beamed the first radio message which rang a bell on the other side of his parent's attic. The first person he showed this to was his mother, who to her credit didn't accuse him of witchcraft but gave him a hug and supported him in all his future ventures. He…

Marconi always gets credit, but Tesla invented it:

https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_whoradio.html

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#23
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not make your community better by having your router also broadcast an open public network?

Because freeloaders and/or malicious actors will abuse my generosity

Freeloaders? Well, yeah: isn't that the whole point? We're all freeloaders, in some sense, unless you think you've earned the water you drink and the air you breathe. By giving back to the Freeloader-available Resource Pool (the commons), you're becoming less of a freeloader.

Malicious actors? That relies on there being malicious actors physically near you, which isn't necessarily a valid assumption. Set up a DMZ, try it, and see.

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#24
post #2

A friend and I used to do this, using the USB GPS reciever from Microsoft Streets and Trips, and then an Orinoco PC Card that let us use an external antenna that we got from a Linksys home AP/router. It was fun seeing all the networks on the map when we got home. I think the original plan was to send out flyers to these businesses offering networking/IT services but we never got that far (especially to the ones with…

I had a magnetic mount antenna on my car and a marine GPS that I used with Netstumbler sometime around 2001. I used an Orinoco PC Card adapter, too. I remember the external antenna connection was very fiddly and fragile. I would run the rig anytime I had a long trip to take. It was fun to see the relatively huge number of networks around bigger cities, as compared to the sparseness of rural Ohio where I lived. I stil…

I had a similar setup that i used while driving cross country ~2002. I used to pull into trucker rest areas to borrow wifi. I had more than a couple ask me about the magnetic antenna.

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because freeloaders and/or malicious actors will abuse my generosity

Freeloaders? Well, yeah: isn't that the whole point? We're all freeloaders, in some sense, unless you think you've earned the water you drink and the air you breathe. By giving back to the Freeloader-available Resource Pool (the commons), you're becoming less of a freeloader. Malicious actors? That relies on there being malicious actors physically near you , which isn't necessarily a valid assumption. Set up a DMZ, t…

Your view will change once you see your home IP address on the search warrant. And no, i am not going to invite the public to share in my vpn too.

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#26
I operate a combination of mobile and fixed point Pwnagotchis across NYC and Brooklyn, I push all the pcaps back to my home lab, which operates in a cluster of distributed hash crackers. They all utilize GPS for AP mapping as well. Roughly 5,000 passwords since 2020. Highly recommend the project for anyone interested in hardware, wardriving, and a tiny bit of AI.

99% of passwords a junk, lol. At this point I can probably guess them faster, but the project has its moments.

Flipper is ok. HackRF and M5 much much better.

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#27
post #8
post #4

I don't quite get the point of this. Basically any home or small buisness router is going to have a password or it's a public wifi hotspot anyway. Am I missing anything?

It's not to get into a network, it's just to list where they're at.. For points. Similar to internet points :). There's no hacking involved just nerds being nerds What you find shows up here: https://wigle.net/ As you can see there's quite a few people who do it

Wardriving for sex toys!

https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/screwdriving-l...

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freeloaders? Well, yeah: isn't that the whole point? We're all freeloaders, in some sense, unless you think you've earned the water you drink and the air you breathe. By giving back to the Freeloader-available Resource Pool (the commons), you're becoming less of a freeloader. Malicious actors? That relies on there being malicious actors physically near you , which isn't necessarily a valid assumption. Set up a DMZ, t…

Your view will change once you see your home IP address on the search warrant. And no, i am not going to invite the public to share in my vpn too.

(A) That's not how search warrants work.

(B) Having your computers spuriously seized for a police investigation is a risk shared by every computer user, but those investigations cost money. They don't tend to seize your hardware frivolously, except to intimidate (fairly common for security researchers, for some reason). If you have a public Wi-Fi network, and there's no reason to believe you're a culprit, they're more likely to ask you to keep MAC address logs, or shut down the public Wi-Fi network, than assume you dunnit and try to prosecute with insufficient evidence. You're at far more risk running a Tor exit node than a public Wi-Fi network, and most Tor exit nodes don't get raided by the police.

Your neighbours are probably not cybercriminals. It's probably okay to be nice to them.

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#29
post #4

I don't quite get the point of this. Basically any home or small buisness router is going to have a password or it's a public wifi hotspot anyway. Am I missing anything?

Passwords matter if your goal is to get free wifi. But wardriving can also scan for devices ... vulnerable/exploitable devices. It is not hard to track down specific vehicles and security systems, which are the first steps to all sorts of high end property crime.

The uuid for a tesla car's bluetooth is 0xFE96 or 0xFE97. Some targeted wardriving easily gives you the general location of every tesla in a neighbourhood, and then the phones that unlock them. Then you sniff the ssid from the phone, look it up in wigle, and you know exactly what car lives in what garage, along with where the phone is that can start said car. Wardriving isnt all about kids wanting free wifi.

Re: Modern Wardriving (2023)

#30
post #10

In 1895 a young Italian studying Maxwell's equations wondered if perhaps you didn't need wires to send an electromagnetic message, and after months of tinkering beamed the first radio message which rang a bell on the other side of his parent's attic. The first person he showed this to was his mother, who to her credit didn't accuse him of witchcraft but gave him a hug and supported him in all his future ventures. He…

I would genuinely love to offer free use of my wifi to anyone that needs it.

1. My billing is usage based, the bills could be astronomical

2. Laws around who is at fault are the person paying the bill. My IP address doing who knows what could easily land me in jail.

Sadly, the cons outweigh the pros

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