| Part of securing your network must include | | | | Kismet. Kismet is a great wireless scanning |
| looking at yourwireless access points. Wireless | | | | program. Ifound my wireless network in the list. I |
| access can be dangerousto your network. Most | | | | found theconnected client and the access point, or |
| people don't even know how easy itis to exploit | | | | router. Then Iproceeded to do a typical type of |
| wireless access points. Let me illustrate mypoint. I | | | | attack on the network. |
| went out one afternoon and took my trusty | | | | Hackers need to grab what's called a "packet" |
| laptopwith me. The task this afternoon was to | | | | from acomputer that already has the key for the |
| scan for "open"wireless access points. An "open" | | | | secured wirelessnetwork. The hacker can then |
| wireless access point isone that has absolutely no | | | | use this packet to issueresponses from the |
| encryption, or security, on thesignal. This allows | | | | router. Why is this important? Thisallows the |
| anyone to listen in on your datastream. If you still | | | | hacker to gather a tremendous amount of |
| don't get it, it's a very bad thing! | | | | datafrom the access point. And this finally allows |
| So, I drove for about 2 miles through a small | | | | the hackerto crack the WEP security key. |
| businessdistrict and apartment complex. What | | | | So, I went about hacking my own WEP wireless |
| was the result? Oh,about 45 open wireless | | | | router. I |
| networks. That means that I couldlog onto those | | | | "deauthenticated" my computer that was already |
| networks, scan it, and exploit machinesconnected | | | | connected tothe router. This gave me the packet |
| to that network. I didn't do that, but you getmy | | | | I needed for therouter. Then I started sending |
| drift. The lesson here is to encrypt your wireless | | | | this packet to the router alot. Once I had enough |
| datastream. | | | | data from the router, I then passedit to a |
| Some people think that choosing WEP encryption | | | | cracking program. Viola, it cracked the key |
| offers greatwireless security. They would be | | | | inabout 1 second. After the dust had settled, I |
| wrong. Your wirelessrouter may have an option | | | | had crackedmy WEP security in less than 30 |
| for WPA and WEP. You shouldalways choose | | | | minutes! But would thetypical user see that I was |
| WPA security over WEP. Let me illustratewhy. I | | | | hacking? Probably not. Theonly thing they would |
| set up a wireless network in my home. I enabled | | | | see is that they lost their wirelessconnection for a |
| WEP security at 128 bit encryption. That's | | | | moment. This is when I "deauthenticated"them |
| "strong"security for WEP. I wrote down the | | | | from the network to grab the "packet" I needed. |
| security key and then Istarted my test. My goal | | | | Remember, I had my WEP encryption set to 128 |
| was to hack my own WEP wirelessnetwork. I | | | | bits. This isa high level of encryption. But it really |
| thought it was going to be a really hard task. | | | | doesn't matter. |
| I was wrong. | | | | All a hacker needs is a signal a little time to crack |
| I fired up my linux laptop. Linux is just an | | | | that. |
| alternativeoperating system to Windows. This | | | | Remember, hackers are like house thieves. They |
| particular Linuxdistribution, or flavor of Linux, was | | | | will goalong the path of least resistance. The |
| a security edition. | | | | harder yourwireless signal is to crack, the less |
| This gave me all kinds of tools to scan for | | | | likely you will behacked. They will simply move |
| wirelessnetworks and exploit them. A typical | | | | along to the next "open"network or one with bad |
| hacker will have allof these free tools at their | | | | encryption. Do yourself a favor,and always |
| disposal. I then fired up | | | | choose WPA wireless security over WEP. |