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Wireless Networking Upgrades Hardware

NetStumbler v0.4 Released 200

Posted by CowboyNeal from the wardriving-and-walking-and-stumbling dept.
mindless4210 writes "A new version of the popular wireless network discovery tool NetStumbler was released today. Updates include support for more wireless cards, ip address reporting, new scripting features, and several bug fixes. This is the first new release since late August of 2002, over a year and a half ago. A new version of the handheld version, MiniStumbler, is also available for download."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

NetStumbler v0.4 Released More

NetStumbler v0.4 Released

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  • Awesome. (Score:5, Funny)

    by mtrisk ( 770081 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:23PM (#8945713) Journal
    Score one for using your neighbor's bandwith.

    • share with your nieghbor why not :) (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      wouldnt it be great if we could share the bandwidth with our nieghbor? he's got a 512 kbit link I have got a 512kbit link wouldnt it be nice to share and have a 1 meg link between us sure sometimes we would both be using it but a lot of the time its sat doing little if anything.
      is it that different from modem doubling ?

      regard john

      • Re:share with your nieghbor why not :) (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Adriax ( 746043 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @11:24PM (#8946392)
        Kinda complicated if you have to use wireless.
        You'd have to get a real router (not one of those cheap broadband NATs) with 3 ethernet ports, two wireless access points and a wireless bridge. Link one port in through ethernet, another through the access point and bridge, and set those to loadbalance the traffic to the 3rd port (with NAT, and DHCP if you want). Stick the second access point off that and have double speed broadband.

        Complicated and probably rather touchy, but if you really wanted to, you could. Though it'd be cheaper to just use one broadband account and pay for the combine bandwidth, and share that out.
      • Um, if you're both on cable, you're already sharing the link. Each of you has 512k in burst, but you can't both sustain that. Otherwise, cable companies can get around selling 1000 people 512k links would need some mythical 512 megabit pipeline (okay, 10 or so T3s would do the trick, but that's be insanely expensive and not covered by the $45,000 per month they were bringing in when you factor in the cost of techs, etc)
      • Set up a QoS router and route all your bulk (high latency acceptable) traffic through your neighbors router. Leave your own connection (wired, I hope) for low latency and burst transfers (gaming, browsing, etc).

        Then, when your neighbor asks, just say, "Oh yeah, we're sharing alright. I've set everything up."

        -Adam

  • Release notes (in case the server goes bye bye) (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:26PM (#8945727)
    NetStumbler v0.4.0 Release Notes

    Marius Milner

    Thank you for your interest in NetStumbler. It is provided to you as a convenience, at no cost and without warranty. If you don't like it, or if you feel that it doesn't quite do what you want, you are free to delete it from your system. By installing or using it, you agree to be bound by the terms of the License Agreement.

    NetStumbler is "beggarware". This means that you do not have to pay for a license to use it. However if you use it and like it, please consider making a donation at http://www.stumbler.net/donate to support future development, web hosting and other costs that I incur as a result of making this software available to you. Please bear in mind that I do this as a hobby in my spare time, not as a full time job.

    Commercial and Government users are strongly encouraged to donate. The suggested donation is US$50 per copy. You may donate by visiting the web site http://www.stumbler.net/donate. You can pay in a variety of ways and may send a Purchase Order if needed.
    What is NetStumbler?

    NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses:

    * Verify that your network is set up the way you intended.
    * Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.
    * Detect other networks that may be causing interference on your network.
    * Detect unauthorized "rogue" access points in your workplace.
    * Help aim directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links.
    * Use it recreationally for WarDriving.

    Requirements
    General Requirements

    The requirements for NetStumbler are somewhat complex and depend on hardware, firmware versions, driver versions and operating system. The best way to see if it works on your system is to try it.

    Some configurations have been extensively tested and are known to work. These are detailed at http://www.stumbler.net/compat. If your configuration works but is not listed, or is listed but does not work, please follow the instructions on the web site.

    The following are rules of thumb that you can follow in case you cannot reach the web site for some reason.

    * This version of NetStumbler requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, or better.
    * The Proxim models 8410-WD and 8420-WD are known to work. The 8410-WD has also been sold as the Dell TrueMobile 1150, Compaq WL110, Avaya Wireless 802.11b PC Card, and others.
    * Most cards based on the Intersil Prism/Prism2 chip set also work.
    * Most 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g wireless LAN adapters should work on Windows XP. Some may work on Windows 2000 too. Many of them report inaccurate Signal strength, and if using the "NDIS 5.1" card access method then Noise level will not be reported. This includes cards based on Atheros, Atmel, Broadcom, Cisco and Centrino chip sets.
    * I cannot help you figure out what chip set is in any given card.

    Firmware Requirements

    If you have an old WaveLAN/IEEE card then please note that the WaveLAN firmware (version 4.X and below) does not work with NetStumbler. If your card has this version, you are advised to upgrade to the latest version available from Proxim's web site. This will also ensure compatibility with the 802.11b standard.
    Other Requirements and Compatibility Issues

    * Your card must be configured in such a way that it can be seen by the management software that came with the card.
    * The Microsoft-provided Orinoco drivers that come with Windows 2000 do not work with NetStumbler. Please visit Windows Update or www.proxim.com and upgrade to the latest drivers.
    * When NetStumbler is in "auto reconfigure" mode (the default), it will occasionally disconnect you from your network. This enables it to perform its scans accurately, and is not a bug.
    * If you have the WLAN card configured to connect to a specific SSID, NetStumbler may not report any accees points other than tho

  • Kismet (Score:5, Informative)

    by Noksagt ( 69097 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:28PM (#8945736) Homepage
    Kismet also recently announce a new version: Kismet-2004-04-R1 [kismetwireless.net].

    • Re:Kismet (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      anyone knows the difference between using kismet to sniff packets and using ethereal? When using kismet my wireless card can't download/upload; when using ethereal I can sniff and download/upload. My suspicions is that using ethereal limits you to your subnet, the channel you're on, and the essid you're associated to, but I don't know for sure.

      • Re:Kismet (Score:5, Informative)

        by krisp ( 59093 ) * on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:08PM (#8945961) Homepage
        When you are sniffing with kismet, you are putting your card into a monitor mode, which basicly shows you everything that is going over the air. This includes the 802.11 encapsulation packets, beacon frames, probe requests, etc. When you are in monitor mode you can't be associated with an access point.

        On the other hand, when you sniff with ethereal when connected to the network, you are sniffing the ethernet network, not the wireless network. It's like sniffing inside a pptp tunnel, you don't see the raw ppp frames.

      • Re:Kismet (Score:5, Informative)

        by petabyte ( 238821 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:11PM (#8945976)
        ethereal sniffs on the network level. So it'll soak up your tcp, udp, icmp, etc and display that. Kismet sniffs on the link level (basically the level above). You'll get the wlan traffic going back and forth but if its encrypted you'll have to wait until enough weak traffic has gone by for it to crack the wep.

        Of course, if the wlan isn't wep'ed up, kismet will happily read and drop the packets to a log file just like ethereal will. Basically your hunch was right.

      • Re:Kismet (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        If you're using kismet to scan for wireless networks, then the card is constantly changing channels, and it should be obvious why you can't transmit/recieve. Most (all?) cards can't recieve on all channels simultaneously.

  • Looks good (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:28PM (#8945739)
    Version 0.4.0 (April 21, 2004)

    Fixed bug (introduced in 0.3.30) that caused "Reconfigure" to put ORiNOCO cards into a state where they would report no access points.
    Support for Atheros, Atmel, Intersil Prism2 based wireless cards. Improved support for Cisco cards.
    Allow use of Serial Earthmate GPS. (USB Earthmate should already work using NMEA and serial driver)
    If you scroll all the way to the right of the graph view, it will auto-scroll new data.
    Fixed bug (introduced in 0.3.30) in graph view: corrupted display when scrolling.
    Fixed bug in graph view: improper scroll bar tracking with large data sets.
    If "Reconfigure" is on, the Windows XP Wireless Zero Configuration service will be stopped when you start scanning. It is restarted when the application exits.
    If you connect to a network that supports DHCP, the IP subnet is reported.
    If the access point is discovered in the ARP table, its IP address is reported.
    While you are scanning, the system will be prevented from going into standby unless power is critically low.
    Large files load several times faster than before (though the really large ones still don't load fast enough).
    A whole lot of new Scripting features.

  • Yeah but (Score:5, Funny)

    by dj245 ( 732906 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:30PM (#8945754) Homepage
    When will there be a version that can integrate motion sensors to alert you that the home owner is approaching you with a shotgun?

  • For the Mac user in you.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by overbyj ( 696078 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:34PM (#8945771)
    There is the new release of iStumbler. Works pretty well.

    http://www.istumbler.net/

  • if you are like me.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Suppafly ( 179830 ) <slashdot@s[ ]afly.net ['upp' in gap]> on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:35PM (#8945782)
    and had no idea that netstumbler is..

    Q. What is Netstumbler?

    A. NetStumbler is a Windows tool that allows you to discover 802.11b (and 802.11a, if using Windows XP) wireless LANs. It includes GPS integration and a simple, intuitive user interface.
    Though primarily targeted at owners of wireless LANs, it has been the de facto tool for casual users such as "war drivers" since 2001.

    NetStumbler 0.3 won the eWeek / PC Magazine i3 award for Innovation In Infrastructure, 2002.

    I find it interesting that it isn't opensource.

    • Re:if you are like me.. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I find it interesting that it isn't opensource

      Oh, groan. As if that's important to you, and as if you'd contribute if it were.

    • Re:if you are like me.. (Score:5, Funny)

      by LostCluster ( 625375 ) * on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:01PM (#8945924)
      I find it interesting that it isn't opensource.

      Not all programers drank the GNU/Kool-aid.
      • Obliguitory Family Guy quote:

        You weren't supposed to drink it yet, I need you all to die with me. Haven't you ever been in a
        cult [planet-familyguy.com] before? If I die alone, then it will just be freaky.

      • GNU+NDA Don't mix. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Agent Green ( 231202 ) * on Friday April 23, 2004 @01:38AM (#8947062)
        Actually, Marius has stated before that one of the reasons the project can't go the GNU route is because there are elements in the software that are under NDA.

        From the Feb. 1 Q&A in Marius' blog: "NetStumbler is not open source. Indeed it contains a lot of code that was developed under Non-Disclosure Agreements, and the source cannot be released to the general public - if I do so then several teams of lawyers will show up on my doorstep."

        Personally, I'm thrilled that Atheros is now supported since stubling 802.11a with NDIS drivers leaves a lot to be desired.

    • Reason for not being OSS (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sglane81 ( 230749 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:08PM (#8945964) Homepage
      I find it interesting that it isn't opensource.

      Q: Can I see the NetStumbler source code? Is it open source? Etc...
      A: NetStumbler is not open source. Indeed it contains a lot of code that was developed under Non-Disclosure Agreements, and the source cannot be released to the general public - if I do so then several teams of lawyers will show up on my doorstep.

      Cut the guy some slack. He writes award winning software.
      • > He writes award winning software.

        Sure. And he would never spy on us. I completely trust his unseen code. Look in to the light and everything will be okay. Don't ask questions, it's for your own good.

        Lots of OSS drivers were written under NDAs BTW.

        And have you ever heard of reverse engineering? I guess that doesn't win you awards *psh*
      • Could the Source be released MINUS the NDA covered parts -- with descriptoins of the missing software in 'pseudo code' or atleast a funtional description so that they can be replaced?

        I can image a tool like this would be very usefull for hacking....

  • minor risk assessment (Score:5, Funny)

    by ChipMonk ( 711367 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:37PM (#8945794) Journal
    From his weblog:

    NetStumbler is not open source. Indeed it contains a lot of code that was developed under Non-Disclosure Agreements, and the source cannot be released to the general public - if I do so then several teams of lawyers will show up on my doorstep.

    What about the RIAA and FBI agents showing up on our doorsteps, just for using it?

  • Warning: It's not easy being slashdotted... (Score:5, Funny)

    by LostCluster ( 625375 ) * on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:37PM (#8945796)
    Look at these side effects from being slashdotted so often...

    Since I released NetStumbler 0.3.30, I have experienced birth, death, illness, new job, and increased bandwidth costs.

    Well, at least Slashdot causes one of them. I'm pretty sure about the others too...

  • New Poll Idea... (Score:5, Funny)

    by zelurxunil ( 710061 ) <zelurxunil@g m a i l . com> on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:38PM (#8945797) Homepage Journal
    Did you respond to the last slashdot story? 1) On your internet connection 2) At a public access terminal 3) From your neighbors WiFi
  • Freshmeat.net can be reached at http://freshmeat.net/ [freshmeat.net].

    HTH

  • New chipsets supported (Score:5, Interesting)

    by chrispl ( 189217 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:41PM (#8945810) Homepage
    Ah now my cisco wifi card is finally more supported than before. It worked pretty good on the old version but netstumbler would often just shut down instantly when more than one access point were available at the same time. This new version seems to work MUCH better.

    The cisco cards work great under linux and its nice to see this great app become even more useful even if it is for windows. On that topic has anyone ported NS or another active wifi scanner to linux?
    • Yep! My 802.11g PCMCIA card from Linksys works now too. I don't think that it worked before, but it works now. I've got to run this on my little sister's PC. Her card wasn't supported before, but because of her PC's location she can 4 networks that Windows XP thinks it can associate with, I wonder how many others it can see.

    • Re:New chipsets supported (Score:4, Informative)

      by g-to-the-o-to-the-g ( 705721 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:41PM (#8946116) Homepage Journal
      The open source kismet [kismetwireless.net] is a powerful alternative to NetStumbler. For those of us who don't use Windows, this is nice ;) There is also airsnort [shmoo.com], once again for the non-windows crowd.
    • I agree. My Broadcom 802.11g system would immediately crash NS 0.3.30. 0.4 works like a charm.

      Still scans slower than my old ORiNOCO based laptop.
    • <AOL>Me Too!!1!</AOL>
      I have the cheapest card I could find in 2002 (TRENDnet TEW022 or somesuch) and I found that NetStumbler now supports it, reporting it as a simple NDIS 5.1

      Makes me really glad I happened to check on netstumbler.net about 6 hours ago, BEFORE the front-page story here.

      Time to send some donation $$ along.

      --

  • my regular client software can do most of this (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gelfling ( 6534 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:42PM (#8945815) Homepage Journal
    My D-link 530DWL client software on XP as well as the XP client manager for the Intel Pro wireless built into my Thinkpad can find all the LANs near my house and they will allow me to logon if they are not encrypted. It reports the LAN name and channel.

  • No G? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wpiman ( 739077 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:43PM (#8945818)
    Well- I guess I know which one I should install. My security for wifi- shut the WAP off when not home. X10 actually works well for this. Simply have the alarm system turn off the wap if no one is home.

  • Palm (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pirogoeth ( 662083 ) * <mailbox&ikrug,com> on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:45PM (#8945835) Homepage Journal
    Is there a tool like this available for Palm-based PDAs with wireless cards?

  • Is Netstumbler detectable? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bender647 ( 705126 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:48PM (#8945847)
    I recall reading in the Kismet documentation (my choice for my Zaurus) that Netstumbler use could be detected by NIDS tools... I wonder if this is still true.

    • Re:Is Netstumbler detectable? (Score:5, Informative)

      by josh3736 ( 745265 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:00PM (#8945917) Homepage
      NetStumbler is active, not passive.

      That means that instead of just listening to packets as they fly by, it actually sends out 802.11 frames to request info about any APs that will respond. So whereas you will get wireless nets that otherwise have no traffic at the moment, you won't get any that don't broadcast their SSID.

      So to answer your question, yes, a NIDS tool could detect that you are sending out 802.11 frames at the rate of once a second. :)

  • Donationware (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hrbrmstr ( 324215 ) * on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:57PM (#8945892) Homepage Journal
    Hey folks, since we are /.'ing him and no doubt downloading NetStumbler and MiniStumbler in droves, it might be a good idea if someone could setup a torrent for it (I'm @ school @ the moment, otherwise I would) and/or click on his donation links.

    While it's no Kismet, it is a solid tool and the new MiniStumbler actually does a great job on my HP iPaq with integrated WLAN.

    (I'm also glad I got them yesterday [grin])

  • Wow. I actually read this using the neighbor's AP (Score:5, Interesting)

    by fliplap ( 113705 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @09:57PM (#8945893) Homepage Journal
    I'm on my neighbors AP right now.

    Btw, SSID: Bartell_LTD
    WEP is actually a lot more effective than people on slashdot will tell you.
  • The last time I checked, these programs didn't support my built-in wireless cards (Airport) due to close drivers. Does this new version support them yet? I would love to fiddle with this for kicks. I have the G4 1 Ghz 15" model.

    • Re:Apple PowerBook G4 support? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:14PM (#8945996)
      Uhm, this software doesn't support your built in wireless cards (Airport) because it's a windows program.

      Thinking different is fine, as long as you're *THINKING*
    • Kismet also supports the Airport card with the vhia drivers (that come with Kismac). It is a real pain to get working properly, though.
    • Airport 802.11b is supported through the viha drivers. I believe it is really an ORiNOCO card.

      Airport Extreme 802.11g is not yet supported. I've heard that these are Broadcom based (no open source drivers yet)

      If you have the AE, I feel you pain. I have a Broadcom .11g chip integrated in to my laptop and I don't like using ndiswrapper.

    • Re:Apple PowerBook G4 support? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT ( 651184 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:39PM (#8946107) Homepage Journal

      My advice would be to splash out some cash for a PCMCIA Orinoco or PRISM-II card, and jam it into the sideslot. Working this way, and with something like KisMac, you can use the Orinoco to scan in passive mode, and then use the Airport or Airport Extreme card for "active" usage, such as performing a packet reinjection flood to generate more traffic on the network.

      I believe Kismac does support the old Airport standard card in monitor mode ( maybe! ), but not the new APX. It can be used in active mode ( which sucks ) however.

    • iStumbler (Score:3, Informative)

      by mccalli ( 323026 )
      You need to use iStumbler, available here [istumbler.net].

      Cheers,
      Ian

  • The support for Wifi has been fixed, ethereal hasn't worked in winblows since I installed the old netstumbler. A quick glance shows it's working much better now.

    Taking a quick look at the survey explains why my connection is intermittent... there are 6 B networks in the area. Damnit... if only 2WIRE didn't have such a saturation.

    The S/N ratio is showing all the crappy interference. No wonder, anyone know if G has the possibility to interfere as harshly as B? I know A is much better with crosstalk but I

  • complete clueless question (Score:4, Interesting)

    by EngMedic ( 604629 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:17PM (#8946011) Homepage
    i'm about to ask a question that demonstrates my cluelessness, so please bear with me.
    How does one determine what chipset is in use in a given card? I have the intel pro wireless (centrino default) integrated wifi card in my laptop, but i don't know what chipset it uses... and more importantly, i don't know where to look. Help, anybody?

  • Not another one... (Score:5, Funny)

    by c0d3m4n ( 680120 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:28PM (#8946053)
    Damnit... I hate these things. Everytime someone in my neighborhood finds a new app like this my commection slows to a crawl. Why can't I just get off my ass and set up WEP?

  • side sotry: netstumbler meets tech support person. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by r.future ( 712876 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:33PM (#8946075) Homepage Journal
    I've been working as a tech for belkin for awhile now (I know I should hate my self for that but it pays the bills) and a while ago a guy called saying that he had set up his router to...
    1. NOT broadcast SSID and,
    2. use a 128 bit wep key


    But he was pissed off because his network was still "showing up as an available network!" After talking to the guy for a long time I figured out that he was using netstumbler (V3) and that SSID was showing up there, but no place other than that.

    Because every one that I work with uses netstumbler, and war drives I asked them if there was any way to make iso stumberl coul dnot see the WAP. When I told this to the guy on my phone he freaked out hard core, and told us that we needed to take some sort of leagle action aginst the guy who invented netstumbler.

    Anyway, my point is that WiFi networks + Americans who are afarid of everything + Netstumbler = one pissed off fear filled sue happy american.

  • sweet irony (Score:5, Funny)

    by rtfm ( 8337 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:36PM (#8946095)
    i just used my neighbor's wireless/dsl connection to download the new version :)

  • Kismet Netstumbler (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:39PM (#8946108)
    Netstumbler really blows. You should try Kismet and see the better features

    Kismet >>>>> Netstumbler

    In Kismet you can actually view if there are Netstumbler users nearby and they won't even have a clue you are in the area Plus you can see cloaked networks in Kismet and its totally silent/undetectable.

    Go on...load up some intrusion detection ware and watch what happens when someone busts out Netstumbler on you.

    With Kismet it won't be noticed at all

  • DSTUMBLER for those on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD (Score:5, Informative)

    by linuxbaby ( 124641 ) * on Thursday April 22, 2004 @10:45PM (#8946133)
    Should mention the incredible (and similar) dstumbler [dachb0den.com] here - for those on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD.

    dstumbler is a wardriving/netstumbling/lanjacking utility for bsd operating systems that attempts to provide features similar to netstumbler in a fast and easy to use curses based application. it is part of the bsd-airtools package released by Dachb0den Labs, which provides a complete bsd based tool set for 802.11b penetration testing.
    current features of dstumbler include:
    • color s/n graphs
    • detection of weped networks
    • detects the beacon interval for aps
    • detects the maximum supported rate for aps (with prism2 cards in scan mode)
    • reports if the ssid of a network is default
    • export/import to wi-scan'esque log format
    • support for prism2 cards (without wep detection)
    • interactive display of ap statistics
    • intuitive navigation hotkeys
    • nmea gps support
    • monitor mode support for prism2 cards
    • /dev/speaker audio support for reporting detected aps and nodes
    • realtime logging to file (for wi-scan'esque compatibility)
    • detection of weped and adhoc networks
    • detection of nodes on bss networks
    • detects if a bss network uses shared or keyed authentication
    • detects the maximum supported rate of aps and nodes
    • detects the beacon interval for aps
    • detects if bss nodes are set to connect to any network or a specified one
    • partial detection of 40-bit or 104-bit encryption
    Download at http://www.dachb0den.com/projects/dstumbler.html [dachb0den.com] (or just install it from ports!)
  • There doesn't seem to be any support for my axim x3i yet is there? I'd love to have mini-stumbler working on it.

  • K vs N (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MrEcho.net ( 632313 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @11:39PM (#8946482)
    yes kismet is great and alot better then netstumbler.
    but you have to think about getting your damm wifi card to even work in *nix.
    Ive spent weeks trying to get my 2 working in linux, no luck yet.

    NetStumbler is the only real way to go in Winblows.
    (yes im a linux guy, made the switch 2 months ago)

  • MAC Address Filter (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Pyro226 ( 715818 ) <Pyro226@REDHAThotmail.com minus distro> on Thursday April 22, 2004 @11:42PM (#8946503) Journal
    I've got a very simple yet effective security setup on my Access Point. I've got it set up to only accept connections from MAC Addresses on my filter list. Both Netstumbler and Windows can see my access point clearly, but Windows just fails to connect with no explaination when the MAC isn't on the list.

    I don't have any WEP set up, so kismet users can see my packets, but by my logic, anyone knowledgeable enough to be using a linux WiFi tool is smart enough to crack WEP.

    • Re:MAC Address Filter (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It is actually pretty easy to sniff a valid mac address and use your access point using that mac address.
    • Very easy way around this. Use Kismet, capture one of the mac addys. Then what you want to do is wait til they leave. The next step is to change your Mac address with ifconfig hw . Easy enough. Walla you can now get on. FEEL SAFE NOW?

      The thing is if someone wants to go through all the problems of a)breaking wep, b)changing their mac addy, c) hacking through Iptables on linux, I say let them. They obviously know of some really important data on my machine that I do not know about, maybe they can

  • Very cool indeed. (Score:4, Informative)

    by gringo_john ( 680811 ) on Thursday April 22, 2004 @11:59PM (#8946581) Journal
    A buddy of mine recently moved into a new highrise condo in a densely populated area (Yaletown) of downtown Vancouver, Canada. He asked for my opinion of what type of broadband internet access he should get, in Vancouver, we basically have two to choose from cable from Shaw or DSL from Telus.

    He didn't have very heavy requirements for his internet access so I suggested just trying to use a wireless 802.11 card in his computer to see what open access points he can pick up.

    Sure enough, there were about 6-7 open access points available at decent signal strength from his living room.

    I suggested that as long as he doesn't do his banking & other information sensitive transactions, he should be okay "borrowing" someone elses connection.

    As far as Netstumbler is concerned, I'm sure the area that he lives in yields 100s of hits. It won't take long to "stumble" onto a lot of ports.

    • Hm.. looks like it's time to take a drive through Yaletown ;)

    • Re:Very cool indeed. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Actually, banking and other security sensitive applications are the ones you should not be afraid to use over a "borrowed" uplink. These connections are usually secured by strong cryptography (authentication and encryption), whereas your personal email, general webbrowsing and instant messaging is usually in the clear.

  • pocket PC (mini stumbler) (Score:3, Informative)

    by monkeyboy87 ( 619098 ) on Friday April 23, 2004 @12:03AM (#8946603)
    If you have a pocket PC but have an incompatible card (like netgear MFA701) you might want to look at pocket warrior.

    Pocket Warrior [sourceforge.net]

    open source and GPL ta boot.

  • Does anyone know of a working mirror?
    stumbler.net, fastbone.com, netstumbler.com, and Hosted Zone all seem to be out of bandwidth.

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