Federal law enforcement officials may use a controversial surveillance technology to monitor e-mail and other text messages delivered through wireless devices, such as cell phones–a fact that has one telecommunications group concerned. Via [news.com.com]… Continue Reading
AirSnort Released
AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered. Via [airsnort.shmoo.com]… Continue Reading
High Speed, Freed
“This is why I love New York,” says Anthony Townsend, standing in the middle of Washington Square Park, holding his laptop computer like a butler’s tray and scanning the adult playground the place becomes on hot summer evenings. Where else, he asks, can you walk around with a computer, surf the Web, and go utterly… Continue Reading
‘Off-The-Shelf’ Hack Breaks Wireless Encryption
A group of researchers from Rice University and AT&T Labs have used off-the-shelf methods to carry out an attack on a known wireless encryption flaw — to prove that it “could work in the real world.” Via [cnn.com]… Continue Reading
Cipher Attack Delivers Heavy Blow To WLAN Security
A new report dashes any remaining illusions that 802.11-based (Wi-Fi) wireless local-area networks are in any way secure. The paper, written by three of the world’s foremost cryptographers, describes a devastating attack on the RC4 cipher, on which the WLAN wired-equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption scheme is based. Via [eetimes.com]… Continue Reading
How To Disable Detection Of Devices On Serial Ports
When you start Windows NT, NTDETECT searches for the pointing device (usually a mouse). In the course of this process, data is sent to the serial (COM) ports. If a serial mouse is detected, Windows NT disables the port so a device driver for the mouse can load instead. If a device is not detected,… Continue Reading
Basic Security Mechanisms for Wireless Networks
As more companies start to deploy wireless networking, important security aspects are often overlooked. Wireless networking was initially marketed towards home consumers and specialized applications, but was limited by low throughput speeds. As the technology matured, networking standards were introduced to ensure interoperability between vendors, and greater speeds were obtained. Driven by both the demands… Continue Reading
Wireless Freenets
It’s hard to tell whether these things are a threat or an opportunity for ISPs. I’m talking about community wireless networks using inexpensive 802.11b radios and antennas operating in the 2.4 GHz spectrum band, and possibly other license-free bands. Via [isp-planet.com]… Continue Reading
IBM Research Demonstrates Industry’s First Auditing Tool For Wireless Network Security
IBM Research has demonstrated the industry’s first automated auditing tool that can monitor 802.11 wireless networks and collect security-related information, allowing system administrators to take proper actions to improve network security. The Wireless Security Auditor, a prototype application running on Linux, enables network administrators to find vulnerable access points by monitoring and analyzing them in… Continue Reading
The War Over 802.11x Security
Not long ago, when wireless networking was new and rare, security was an afterthought. The reason? The scarcity of 802.11b cards acted as a form of back-handed security. If no one had an 802.11b card, outsiders couldn’t very well scan your setup, right? Now, however, that’s changed. Wireless gear is readily available–and cheap–so that almost… Continue Reading
A Note From Marius Milner
Before emailing me to ask for new features and bug fixes, please bear in mind that I’m writing this in my spare time. My family and job come first.… Continue Reading
What Is NetStumbler?
NetStumbler is a Windows Utility for AP Mapping (a.k.a. War Driving, Lan Mapping). Currently the software is still in development. If you would like a pre-release copy please email the author Marius Milner.… Continue Reading
Convenience Vs. Annoyance
From etiquette experts to senior executives at Microsoft, a growing number of people say wireless Internet access is becoming an annoyance–a technology that could potentially become more annoying than cell phones or pagers. They point to the alarming number of attendants at technology conferences and even internal office meetings who ignore speakers to focus on… Continue Reading