Wardriving in the Mid 1990s
The mid 1990s was a time of great excitement for wireless networking. The technology was still in its early stages, but it was quickly gaining popularity. This led to a new hobby called “wardriving,” which involved driving around with a laptop computer and a wireless adapter to find unsecured wireless networks.
Wardriving was a great way to learn about wireless networking and to test your security skills. It was also a lot of fun. I remember spending hours driving around my neighborhood, looking for open networks. I would often find networks that were unsecured and had default passwords. I would then try to connect to these networks and see if I could access any data, a printer, anything that was connected to the wireless router.
Wardriving was also a great way to learn about the security vulnerabilities of wireless networks. I learned a lot about how to crack WEP passwords and how to exploit other security flaws in unpatched hardware. This knowledge helped me to become a better security professional.
Of course, wardriving also had its risks. If you were caught wardriving on someone else’s property, you could be arrested for trespassing. You could also be sued for damages if you caused any harm to someone’s network.
Despite the risks, wardriving was a great experience. It was a lot of fun to explore the world of wireless networking and to learn about security. If you’re interested in wireless networking, I encourage you to try wardriving. Just be sure to do it responsibly and to obey the law.
There were a few different wardriving programs available in the mid-1990s, such as NetStumbler and AirSnort. I used a laptop with an external antenna and a pringles can for a while before going to a handheld PDA, CF Wi-Fi card, serial cable plugged into a handheld GPS unit. I had a cellphone but was impossible to add an app to a Bag Phone… LOL.
Here are some tips for getting started with wardriving now:
- You’ll need a laptop computer with a wireless adapter or an android cellphone with wigle.net app installed (it’s in the app store). You can also build your own wardriver, check out wardriver.uk also check out youtube and while you are at it check out my buddies build video of the wardiver.uk by JHewitt. Let’s not forget Alex and his DNS Driveby his device started out as a low cost Telemetry and GPS Tracking device and has now grown to be a big player in the DIY wardriving devices.
- You’ll also need a software program that can scan for wireless networks. Check out LyndLabs github and JHewitt’s if you go with the devices I listed above.
- Be sure to be respectful of other people’s property when you’re wardriving. Don’t treaspass on private property and don’t cause any harm to anyone’s network… Who am I kidding… Hack The Planet!
Wardriving was and still is a great way to learn about wireless networking and to test your security skills. It is also a lot of fun. Wardriving, it’s like Pokemon GO, but for us DIYers, Hackers, Security Professionals.
jT – @majorjoker
This was using a WyzeCar, with a Wifi Pineapple for some wireless recon in and around a building.
A wardriving rig using a Wifi Pineapple from Hak5, a GPS module, Kismet, 2.4GHz and 5GHz and a RaspberryPi.
Just a few of my wardrivers
A case by 463N7. He also has Script-Kitty stickers and shirts in his online store. Click on picture to go to his store. 463n7.io/shop
My first of many JHewitt wardriver.uk devices. He has a custom PCB on his site.
A DNS Driveby I build via Alex’s DNS Driveby site. You can purchase a kit from his store.
