Feds Hack Wireless Network in 3 Minutes

xs3 writes At a recent ISSA (Information Systems Security Association) meeting in Los Angeles, a team of FBI agents demonstrated current WEP-cracking techniques and broke a 128 bit WEP key in about three minutes. Special Agent Geoff Bickers ran the Powerpoint presentation and explained the attack, while the other agents (who did not want to be named or photographed) did the dirty work of sniffing wireless traffic and breaking the WEP keys. This article will be a general overview of the procedures used by the FBI team.."

First DEAD BEEF

[jargoone]

Note to self: change WEP key to something other than "DEADBEEFDEADBEEFDEADBEEFDE".

Those Crazy Feds

[clarus]

Was the password public?

I bet it was public:public

Silly FBI

takes me longer than 3 minutes

[amichalo]

Damn those feds are good.

It takes me longer than 3 minutes just to type the WEP key from my router into my client!

Re:First DEAD BEEF

[Tackhead]

> Note to self: change WEP key to something other than "DEADBEEFDEADBEEFDEADBEEFDE".

Note to poster: DEADFEDDEADFEADDEADFED is also a poor choice.

No worries.

[unstable23]

I live in the middle of nowhere. I think I may notice two men sitting with a laptop in an ominous black car with government plates, as the only place they could be close enough is my driveway.

Still, it may be time to look at running an IPSEC tunnel over the wireless network.

Comment

[pete-classic]

None of the agents could be reached for comment, as they were all busy arresting eachother citing the Patriot Act and the DMCA.

-Peter

Re:First DEAD BEEF

[jargoone]

Note to poster: DEADFEDDEADFEADDEADFED is also a poor choice.

Indeed it is. It's several characters too short.

Re:No worries.

[B3ryllium]

But what if they have special FBI antennas? Made from FBI pringles cans?

Wifi: Feds best friend on a stakeout

[9mm Censor]

So now when the feds are parked out in front of your house waiting for you to leave your apartment, they can leech off your neighbours wifi...

Re:Those Crazy Feds

[Cumstien]

No linksys like the ID.

Re:No worries.

[_Sprocket_]

....black, ominous pringles cans?

other way around

[404forbidden]

i read to fast, at first i read "fed wireless network hacked in 3 minutes" ... "old news" i thought..

Re:Those Crazy Feds

[lucabrasi999]

I bet it was public:public

Actually, the Password was 1-2-3-4-5.

I found that to be rather disturbing, since I have the same combination on my luggage.

Re:Not too surprising

[Cruithne]

What is surprising is that such a l33t cr3w used powerpoint for their presentation :/

Re:First DEAD BEEF

[British]

Alternate Wep key(er, something like this): BA DB 0B 13 37 (bad bob leet)

Just Leave It Open

[duffer_01]

Glad I didn't go through the effort of locking mine down. Who has the last laugh now, Mr. "You gotta lock that thing down"?

Pffft Cracking? The Feds have backdoors!

[Phoenixhunter]

Nah, they have the manufacturers build in a backdoor! Didn't you watch 24 last night? All they needed was the manufacturer ID and they got root access!

I personally prefer

[arglesnaf]

DECAFC0FFEEBADBADBADBADBAD

Most likely /.'er response

[Cereal Box]

How dare they! The feds have no right to break into someone's wireless network, no matter how simple the password! I want to see the FBI taken down for this! <continues ranting about "the feds">...

I'm sure we'll hear many comments along those lines from Slashdotters who are no doubt using a wireless connection that they've broken into...

Re:Not too surprising

[AppyPappy]

Bull. They just walked around looking under keyboards.

Re:WEP = weak

[BJZQ8]

How will Windows Product Activation help us?

Re:Countermeasures & Conclusion

[Momoru]

6) Tinfoil. And LOTS of it.

Re:WPA is just as 'weak' against Brute Force

[Speare]

Just simply combine words from different languages. "Gandalf said 'mellon,' and the doors to Khazad-dum opened wide."

My WEP key

[claussenvenable]

is one of the 600,426,974,379,824,381,952 ways to spell \/14grA [cockeyed.com]

dictionary-attack that, G-man!

Re:No worries.

[AvantLegion]

>> ....black, ominous pringles cans?

I don't know about that, but I have a four year old Pringles can in my pantry. One glance through the clear lid reveals the chips are looking black and ominous themselves...

Two of them are cryptography masters ...

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

The other is the PowerPoint guru :-P

Re:Encryption is now useless

[displague]

640 bits of encryption ought to be enough for anybody.

Obligatory Simpsons Reference

[phaetonic]

*Homer looks outside and sees a van*

Flowers
By
Irene

Re:WPA is just as 'weak' against Brute Force

[hey!]

I'm not so sure. Wireless security has been historically so bad, every bit of key randomness we can get is probably worth it.

It's like the old joke about the two hikers who encounter an enraged, ravenous bear. The first hiker quickly strips off his hiking boots and starts pulling on his running shoes.

"You fool, an adult bear can run 30 miles per hour," the other hiker says, "you can't possibly outrun it."

"I don't have to outrun the bear," the first replies, "I just have to outrun you."

Re:No worries.

[sharkey]

Agent Starling: "He said he could smell my Pringles"

What a surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

I was surprised to find that the FBI Computer Scientist mentioned in the article presenting this was... a Smith.

Hmmm...

They've gone to plaid!

[TheDukePatio]

Note to self: Change President Scroob's WEP key to something other than 1234567891011121314151617181920.

Re:First DEAD BEEF

[cp.tar]

Note to poster: DEADFEDDEADFEADDEADFED is also a poor choice.

You don't want typos in your WEP key now, do you?

Re:WPA is just as 'weak' against Brute Force

[Anonymous Coward]

you should read your sig

Re:WEP is only useful for

[feloneous cat]

You must provide SOME incentive for people to be polite

I use $100 bills and exotic vacation packages as an incentive. It is freaking amazing how polite people are when you do that...

Re:Not too surprising

[normal_guy]

I'm suprised you're not using shielded VGA cables to prevent direct snooping of your screen, Steven.

In related news...

[naoursla]

A locksmith was able to pick a locked front door in a residential neiborhood in just under 3 minutes.

However, the FBI has superior entry method that involves breaking the door down in just under 8 seconds.

Re:No worries.

[marnerd]

Particularly because you live in Wisconsin!

In other words ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... You have a tinfoil house!

Re:First DEAD BEEF

[mrgreenfur]

Whats the deal with dead beef?

At the school I go to the wireless gateway for campus's MAC is DEADDEADBEEF.
Is this just a popular phrase to spell with hex?

Re:I personally prefer

[Anonymous Coward]

15EEDEADD00D5BAADDEADD00D5

Re:Not too surprising

[PalmMP3]

Wow, you didn't read the article did you?

You must be new here...

$0.01 random number generator.

[istartedi]

Flip a penny 128 times. Does the same thing, and nobody will think you're a D&D player.