Summary

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WarDriving, despite the negative connotations that some media outlets have attached to it, is an activity that is not only fun, but that can provide a valuable source of security information to the user community. By WarDriving an area and generating maps and statistical analysis of the security posture of the wireless networks in that region, the residents or businesses there can determine what steps they need to take to secure their wireless networks. Providing this general information can help generate an awareness of the necessity to enable the built-in security measures available on most access points.

If you decide to WarDrive using a laptop computer configuration, you will need to determine the operating system and WarDriving software package you plan to use. Once you have loaded these, you need to insert your wireless NIC card into a PCMCIA slot on your laptop. Next, attach the handheld GPS unit to the serial or USB port on the laptop. Using the appropriate pigtail, connect your choice of an omni-directional antenna, directional antenna, or both to your wireless NIC. If you don’t want to run on battery power, connect your laptop computer’s power cable to a power inverter. Next, disable the TCP/IP stack if you are using Windows to avoid inadvertent connections to any poorly configured wireless networks. Once all of your connections are in place and you have a power source for the laptop, simply start up your WarDriving software and begin your WarDrive.

Using a PDA setup is a similar process. Insert your wireless NIC into a PCMCIA sleeve for the PDA. Next, attach your external antenna(s) by connecting them to the appropriate pigtail for your wireless NIC. Connect your GPS to its data cable and the serial cable to a null modem connector. Following this, you will need to connect your PDA’s proprietary cable to your PDA input slot and the other end to the null modem connector. If you don’t want to risk losing power on your PDA in the middle of the drive, you should connect your PDA to a cigarette lighter power source. Next, set your IP Address to 0.0.0.1 with a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0 and no default gateway. Now, simply turn on the PDA and start your WarDriving software.

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