War-urlvlng

8y AnLrlksh u Shah
yoda[null.co.ln
"vety eveoloq l see tbe oelqbbot klJ slmoq
ot tbe eoJ of tbe Jtlvewoy wltb bls loptop fot
boots oo eoJ. ne looks ot oot booseftepoeotly
ooJ kloJ of fteoks me oot. lt mokes me
wooJet, ls be bljockloq oot blqb-speeJ
lotetoet tbtooqb oot wlteless oetwotk?"
War-urlvlng
!"#$#%&%'( ls drlvlng around a clLy searchlng for
Lhe exlsLence of Wlreless LAn neLworks.
lL's locaung and logglng wlreless access polnLs
whlle ln mouon.
!"#$#%&%'( was lnvenLed by eLer Shlpley
lnLroducuon
Wlreless LLherneL", has become very popular wlLh
lnLerneL users looklng for a cosL-eecuve LAn LhaL ls easy
Lo lmplemenL and provldes rellable servlce.
1he mosL popular ls 802.11b. 1he 2.4Chz range, 11Mb
speed, yeL poorly lmplemenLs one of Lhe mosL fundamenLal
aspecLs of neLworklng, Lhe securlLy.
1hls ls exacLly Lhe problem wlLh Wlreless LLherneL.
eople can drlve, walk, and share your lnLerneL access or
connecL Lo your compuLer.

1hls process ls known as Wardrlvlng", or
"LAn [acklng".
WhaL do l need Lo have ln order
Lo do Wardrlve?
MosL people use )"*+,*-. Some use uAs based
on Lhe ockeLC CS or Llnux.
A .-+/01)2#. uullLy. 8y far Lhe besL known ls
Marlus Mllner's neLwork SLumbler for Wlndows,
whlch mosL people call neLSLumbler.
Llnux has klsmeL,
MAC CS has MacSLumbler,
ockeLC has MlnlSLumbler.
A !%45% 6)%2'+ "$"*+2# supporLed by your chosen
sLumbler uullLy. 8y far Lhe besL and mosL wldely
supporLed cllenL adapLer ls ArLheros adapLers.
An 27+2#'") "'+2''" auached Lo your cllenL
adapLer. ldeally, Lhls ls omnldlrecuonal verucally
mounLed on Lhe vehlcle roof. ?ou can wardrlve
wlLh noLhlng more Lhan a C card's bullL-ln
anLenna, buL Lhese anLennas are wreLched and
wlll be shlelded from slgnals Lo some exLenL by
Lhe vehlcle's meLal sLrucLure.
noLe well: l do Lhlnk LhaL rlngle's poLaLo chlp cans
make good wardrlvlng anLennas.
A 89: #262%&2# LhaL emlLs nMLA 183 formaued
daLa. 1hls allows Lhe sLumbler program Lo record
where sLumbled sLauons are locaLed ln Lhe
physlcal world.
CS: Why should l have a CS unlL?

1echnlcally, CS ls opuonal, buL Lhe sLumbled
daLa ls mocb less useful wlLhouL CS lnformauon.
1he CS unlL ls used Lo ouLpuL CS coordlnaLes
Lo Lhe compuLers . When you nd a wlreless LAn,
many programs wlll log Lhe exacL coordlnaLes
(down Lo a few feeL).


;2(")%<2- "'$ =+>%6-
1he legallLy of wardrlvlng hasn'L been LesLed,
buL few people Lhlnk LhaL wardrlvlng ltself ls
lllegal.
WhaL ls cerLalnly lllegal ls connecung Lo and
uslng neLworks wlLhouL Lhe neLwork owner's
permlsslon (whlch ls whaL mosL people call
"breaklng lnLo a neLwork").
1o keep wardrlvlng legal, lL's lmporLanL Lo
1) obey Lhe law as lL exlsLs Loday, and
2) do our besL Lo encourage [ournallsLs Lo draw Lhe
dlsuncuon beLween wardrlvlng Lools and Lhelr abuse
by crackers.

ubllc percepuon ls exLremely lmporLanL. lf you
connecL Lo oLher people's neLworks lllegally, lL's your
buu ln a sllng and nobody else's, buL lf you brag abouL
lL and Lhe press plcks lL up, you hurL us all.
Pow do l sLay on Lhe rlghL slde of Lhe
law whlle wardrlvlng?
1) don'L examlne Lhe conLenLs of a neLwork,
2) don'L add, deleLe, or change anyLhlng on Lhe
neLwork, and
3) don'L even use Lhe neLwork's lnLerneL connecuon
for Web surng, emall, chaL, l1, or anyLhlng else.

Somebody else pald for Lhe bandwldLh, and lf
you don'L have permlsslon Lo use lL, you're
sLeallng lL. 8aslcally, unless you have permlsslon,
Joo't coooect.
Why ls wardrlvlng useful?
Wardrlvlng provldes a unlque opporLunlLy Lo
gauge Lhe growLh of a Lechnology markeL
segmenL by Jltect lospecuoo
!"#6>")?%'(
!"#6>")?%'( ls Lhe drawlng of symbols ln publlc
places Lo adveruse an open Wl-ll wlreless
neLwork.
Pavlng found a Wl-ll node, Lhe warchalker draws
a speclal symbol on a nearby ob[ecL, such as a
wall, Lhe pavemenL, or a lamp posL.
1hose oerlng Wl-ll servlce mlghL also draw such
a symbol Lo adveruse Lhe avallablllLy of Lhelr Wl-
ll locauon, wheLher commerclal or personal.
@,'A/-%,' B%+> *%((C1"6?%'(
Wardrlvers are only ouL Lo log and collecL
lnformauon abouL Lhe wlreless access polnLs
(WAs) Lhey nd whlle drlvlng, wlLhouL uslng
Lhe neLworks' servlces.
Connecung Lo Lhe neLwork and uslng lLs
servlces wlLhouL expllclL auLhorlzauon ls
referred Lo as plggybacklng.
Wlll-Mapplng
Wlll-Mapplng
Many wardrlvers use CS devlces Lo measure
Lhe locauon of Lhe neLwork and log lL on a Lo
form maps of Lhe neLwork nelghborhood. A
popular web-based Lool Loday ls WlCLL, whlle
one of Lhe ploneerlng mapplng appllcauons
was SLumbverLer.
WlCLL, or !%reless 8eographlc ;ogglng
=nglne, ls a webslLe for collecung lnformauon
abouL Lhe dlerenL wlreless hoLspoLs around
Lhe world. users can reglsLer on Lhe webslLe
and upload hoLspoL daLa llke CS coordlnaLes,
SSlu, MAC address and Lhe encrypuon Lype
used on Lhe hoLspoLs dlscovered.
1hank ?ou