KisMAC Developer Discontinues Project

mgv writes to let us know that the lead developer of KisMAC, a passive wireless network discovery tool for Mac OS X, is discontinuing the project. Michael Rossberg lives in Germany and that country has recently passed laws that would make his participation dangerous. He urges visitors to take a copy of KisMAC and its source as long as the site is up, so that development might be continued outside the US or EU. From the website: "There has not been a lot of time for KisMAC lately. However the motivation for this drastic step [lies] somewhere different. German laws change and are being adapted for 'better' protection against something politicians obviously do not understand. It will become illegal to develop, use or even posses KisMAC in this banana republic [i.e., Germany]."

Re:Its a cracking tool

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Is there even a legitimate use for that?

To find out if your own network is vulnerable.

No matter what kind of bullshit laws get put into place to restrict 'cracking tools' - criminals will have them. Legally sticking your head in the sand will not make you any safer. Far better that tools like this are spread far and wide so that countermeasures, or at least recognition of the problems, are also spread far and wide.

Re:Its a cracking tool

[AntiNazi]

Because if you put the book at the back of the shelf no one will ever find it?

Re:Seems like a waste

[Paradise Pete]

Hmm, couldn't he contribute anonymously somehow?

Well if he were going to do that he probably wouldn't announce it.

svnsync

[Anonymous Coward]

Quick, someone use svnsync [collab.net] to download the subversion history of the project!

Re:Can he continue 'remotely'?

[nukem996]

If they wanted to charge him they still would and while he may still win because the program is running on a computer in a different country it still would cost him alot of time, money, and energy that he probably doesn't want to spend.

Re:Its a cracking tool

[Anonymous Coward]

Free speech is fine but I don't agree with having this tool available to non-professionals in a nice easily installed package.

This statement urks me. So what should we do? Restrict free speech just a little so professionals get the easily installed package? Have someone complete a course and afford them the title of professional?

Of course, if we restrict free speech for this cause, whats to stop it from be restricted for other purposes? Locksmith tools to help people get in their cars and houses?

Tell me, what is the limit?

Personally, I believe there should not be any limit. Its black or white, all or nothing!! Once it becomes grey, its open to interpertation. Interpertation is BAD! This is what allowed the government to take property for "public purposes" (owned by a private corporation of course). Also, peaceful protesting is fine and legal, when the government can decide to regulate the location and timeframe (at night from 10:00 to 10:01 ONLY around a dark alley where no one would see them).

There you go, your gut feeling could send us spiraling down a loss of (more) rights we should be ...... righfully entitled to. No, wait. Rights are NOT a privilege, gift, or anything that should be revoked.

Re:Its a cracking tool

[bmo]

"Is there even a legitimate use for that?"

Under German law, now, even nmap could be considered evil. Tools like this and kismac are mostly used to see if your pants are around your ankles with regards to your network, either home or commercial.

Why should people with home networks not have this tool available? The German law is stupid and makes everyone a victim while not taking the tools out of the hands of people who will use them anyway for nefarious purposes.

I can kill people with a hammer, or I can use it to build things. I choose the latter. Should we outlaw hammers because some people illegaly misuse them?

--
BMO

Re:Its a cracking tool

[OverlordQ]

No matter what kind of bullshit laws get put into place to restrict 'cracking tools'

It's not to restrict the tools, it's just so they have more things to accuse you of when you're charged to get something to stick.

MOD PARENT UP

[deftcoder]

Also, nice sig. Isn't that a Schneier quote? I could've sworn I've seen it before... and it's been a while since I read Applied Crytography.

Re:The ignorant Arrogance of German politicans.

[dballanc]

The ignorant Arrogance of politicans in general. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the only thing the politicians really seem care about is making sure it's also a toll road.

Re:Its a cracking tool

[timmarhy]

cool, just what every community needs - more ways to have charges stick when the government takes a dislike to you! assholes.

Re:Lost Freedom

[keeboo]

Are there any western countries whose citizens aren't losing their individual freedoms?

Well.. It's not happening in Brazil.
I guess the politicians here are too busy counting their money.

As someone with dual citizienship and..

[Joe Tie.]

a family of lawyers, I'd caution anyone tempted to think of this as an Us Vs. Them scenario. This kind of shit happens everywhere, and it's really only by having the protection of the guns of any particular country that you gain any measure of freedom past the average level that the man on the street considers the lowest possible. It sucks, but this is the reality of the situation. You've only got as much freedom as isn't either explicitly protected, or passed by when politicians make their rounds in "protecting" you against harming yourself.

Re:Its a cracking tool

[mgv]

Brings to mind the riots in Sydney about a year ago. A sporting goods shop almost sold out of baseball bats in a couple of hours. The manager called the police to ask for a suggested course of action. The cops suggested the store stop selling baseball bats for the time being.

That is a difficult one. Whilst I think that the problem there is the person, not the bat, sometimes it is worth restricting some actions. I think that even the most pro gun supporter would say there is a limit on selling weapons. Its just where you want to draw the line. Baseball bats, knives, guns, semi-automatics, hand grenades, small tactical nukes? Somewhere along the line most people will agree its not a good idea to have these things for sale in the sports section of k-mart, irrespective of the individual's personal freedom. Most peoples rights to freedom should stop somewhere short of their right to kill them selves with a 10 megaton nuke in a densely populated city.

Now this is a little different from what KisMAC is about, however. Kismac is fairly useless if you have a good password and a network secured by a proper protocol. On networks that aren't properly secured, it can open them up with various amounts of grunt work, ranging from minutes to days.

Mostly, KisMAC helps secure the network by letting you attack your own network. It has very little to do with most current criminal activity online.

Criminalising this tool will not make people much safer, if at all. Arguably it makes things more secure - I've persuaded a number of people to change their encryption to WPA by demonstrating how quickly their base stations can be compromised.

Much better I do it than someone else.

I think the German authorities would be much better working on philshing attacks, scam emails, and so on.

Of course, that would require some real work, not like this...

Michael

Re:Its a cracking tool

[muridae]

Nmap helped me pick out a flaw in my sister's router. She asked me to figure out why it needed rebooting once a day, nmap showed several open ports, and after hitting one multiple times the router locked. Repeat the experiment, it locks again. Experiment concluded.

Kismet showed some family members why they needed both wireless encryption and MAC filtering. Telling them I was going to log every IM conversation, and then showing them the logs went a ways towards convincing them that their wireless was not really all that secure. They now know that MAC filtering only keeps out the honest, and WEP only hides their data with a thin layer of gauze, but at least it is their informed choice now.

Kismet and other wireless scanners have helped me pick out channels for my router based on where they have the least interference. I blame a cranky windows 'wireless assist tool' for picking the strongest AP instead of the one I select, but since it was what I was dealing with I just made the best out of it.

And yes, wireless scanners have also found me open hotspots to connect to when I am traveling. If the coffee shop leaves it on after hours, how am I supposed to ask for permission anyways?

Re:3 hour tour

[Tablizer]

Come on now, why is it "off-topic"? It is based directly on this statement from the submitter:

"He urges visitors to take a copy of KisMAC and its source as long as the site is up, so that development might be continued outside the US or EU."

OSS-friendly laws and practices can be established in a new island country. Security research could also be done without being visited by mean corporate lawyers or the FBI.
             

Re:Its a cracking tool

[muridae]

So if they leave their door unlocked after hours, it's okay to go in and get yourself a cappuccino? Neat!

I turn on my computer, their AP says 'hey, I'm a network, connect to me.' My wireless card says 'hey, I'm MAC address 11-11-11-11-11-11, can I please connect,' and their AP says sure.

The locked door analogy just doesn't cut it. Think of the coffee shop having a robot butler that they forget to program correctly. It serves at all hours instead of just working hours. Who's fault would that be? Now, take your archaic straw man and get lost.

Note: I did not suggest or imply that I decoded their WEP key to get an internet connection.

Re:Its a cracking tool

[angulion]

To bring in the car analogy, this seems more like making cars and alcohol illegal instead of the act of drunk driving..
Of course driving and drinking everyone knows, so making them illegal would never even come into question.