Wardriving

Wardriving

Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer, smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA).

Software for wardriving is freely available on the Internet, notably NetStumbler, InSSIDer, Vistumbler, or Ekahau Heat Mapper for Windows; Kismet or SWScanner for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFly BSD, and Solaris; and KisMac for  Macintosh. There are some for both Windows and Macintosh, for example, NetSpot.  There are also homebrew wardriving applications for handheld game consoles that support Wi-fi, such as sniff jazz box/wardrive for the Nintendo DS/Android, Road Dog for the Sony PSP, WiFi-Where for the iPhone, G-MoN, Wardrive, Wigle Wifi for Android, and WlanPollution for  SymbianNokiaS60 devices. There also exists a mode within Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the Sony PSP (wherein the player is able to find new comrades by searching for wireless access points) which can be used to wardrive. Treasure World for the DS is a commercial game in which gameplay wholly revolves around wardriving.

Legal And Ethical Consideration:

Some portray wardriving as a questionable practice (typically from its association with piggybacking), though, from a technical viewpoint, everything is working as designed: many access points broadcast identifying data accessible to anyone with a suitable receiver. It could be compared to making a map of a neighborhood's house numbers and mailbox labels.

There are no laws that specifically prohibit or allow wardriving, though many localities have laws forbidding unauthorized access of computer networks and protecting personal privacy. Google created a privacy storm in some countries after it eventually admitted systematically but surreptitiously gathering WiFi data while capturing video footage and mapping data for its Street View service. It has since been using Android-based mobile devices to gather this data.

Passive, listen-only wardriving (with programs like Kismet or KisMAC) does not communicate at all with the networks, merely logging broadcast addresses. This can be likened to listening to a radio station that happens to be broadcasting in the area.

With other types of software, such as NetStumbler, the wardriver actively sends probe messages, and the access point responds per design. The legality of active wardriving is less certain, since the wardriver temporarily becomes "associated" with the network, even though no data is transferred. Most access points, when using default "out of the box" security settings, are intended to provide wireless access to all who request it. The war driver's liability may be reduced by setting the computer to a static IP, instead of using DHCP, preventing the network from granting the computer an IP address or logging the connection.

In the United States, the case that is usually referenced in determining whether a network has been "accessed" is State v. Allen. In this case, Allen had beenwardialing in an attempt to get free long distance calling through Southwestern Bell's computer systems. When presented with a password protection screen, however, he did not attempt to bypass it. The court ruled that although he had "contacted" or "approached" the computer system, this did not constitute "access" of the company's network