Open Wireless AP...find the owner?

[Bob Ferrier]

 Lets start at the beginning...  If you find an open access point, so 
far law precedent states that you cannot be sued, or prosecuted for 
accessing the internet through that access.   however, accessing the 
computers, and or peripherals shared through that network fall under 
the standard anti hacking laws...    any type of access could 
possibly land you jail time/fines.

second...   this could be a "honeypot" a test system dedicated to 
pinpointing intrusions and situations as described above.

third.   if you are getting good signal, then pinpointing them is 
fairly simple...   either they are really really close...   *less 
than 150ft.~ 250ft*  or they are really really powerful...   see omni 
directional antenna's..   

if they are setup to use omni's to increase power then they might be 
doing this on purpose.

now... here are some tools that you could use in your network...   
and or use in wardriving, and or in the securing of your own network.

you are aware of netstumbler  www.stumbler.net  so you have half the 
tools already.  a working knowledge of its use... (or a similar 
program)

next is either a computer with a usb wlan nic, or a laptop with a 
pcmcia card...    why either of these?   

well...   lets look at the tech spec's of 802.11b (this is an 
assumption per the email didn't say.)  

2.4ghz is absorbed very well by one very common material:
water.

Since the human body is mostly water we can find the ap by 
interposing your body, or even your hand, to eliminate directions 
that the signal can be coming from. when the signal fades, the ap is 
behind you.  (or behind your hand)

keep in mind that your neighbor may not be happy to see you.

here are a few additonal links that may provide additional 
information:

Yagi (cantenna)  *these are powerful directional antenna's.*
www.netscum.com/~clapp/wireless.html 

Pringles Yagi *scroll down to the all in the can version*
www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448
I have gotten a 14 dBi gain using this small, 8 dollar solution. 
(may cost more if you buy a pigtail, i just soldiered the wire 
direction into a pcmcia card.)

yet another web page of interest:
www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/

There is a solution using a compaq ipaq, (and possibly other winCE or 
linux based handhelds...   but this can run anywhere from 250 to 1000 
to put together...   

the gps is only needed if you are actually trying to scan an area or 
a route, as stopping and jotting down the closest intersection is 
dangerous and impractical...   (not that it can't be done.)

(The only reason I know any of this, is cause when I was working in 
the Outbound Services section of Compusa, my boss wanted to research 
alternate sources of income to our department. He never implemented 
my proposals, and hence, never made any money off of it.  I have a 
business model of sorts worked out, and would be happy to 
demonstrate, train, and develop equipment solutions for someone 
interested in implementing it as a business.

And on a side note, at my last count, 6 months or so ago, there where 
2146 unsecured residential waps, and 7 insecure business waps in 
Johnson county, KS.   Similar numbers can be found in other parts of 
town.

On a side side note, one of those insecure business waps is located 
at the Olathe PD station near 135th and I35.) 

-- 
Bob Ferrier, boblist at kc.rr.com on 07/12/2003

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 23:48:39 -0500, Matt G wrote:
>So, I got my new wireless network setup today, and the first thing I
>did was
>enable wep, turn off broadcasting, and make sure it didn't accept
>ssid
>"any".  So, I'm fooling around with it, and it's working great.  I
>installed
>netstumbler just to make sure I couldn't find my ap like that.
>Mine didn't
>show up, which is good, but I found 2 others.  One seems to be
>protected,
>but one of them is totally open.  I can get an ip and get online 
etc.
>
>Is there any way to find out who they are??  I need to help this guy
>get his
>network buttoned down.  I'm getting full strength signals.  There
>are no
>shared drives that I can find, and no shared printers (so I can't
>leave a
>file note, or print a note.)   Anyone know any tricks?
>
>Matt
>
>
>
>
>
>majordomo at kclug.org