War Driving with Net Stumbler

The first location I chose to war drive is South Station in Boston. Only one network was to be found and I could not connect to it because of two reasons; the signal was very low and a password was required to gain access to the service. The vendor was labeled “fake” and the speed was 54Mbps. A screenshot of the wireless signal acquired at South Station can be found below (top). The second location I searched for free wireless internet was my girlfriend Rachael’s house in Connecticut. I found a few more wireless signals here, but nowhere near as many as in the classroom (for obvious reasons). The signals were called: RomeNet, Clark, Linksys, NetGear, and Print Server. The Rome’s and Clark’s are Rachael’s neighbors, so that is where the names of the signals come from. The signal named Linksys is the name of the Rachael’s signal and therefore the signal that I connected to. I was not asked for a WEP key, so I just clicked “join network” and was then able to connect to the internet. A screenshot of the wireless internet signals found at Rachael’s house can be found below (bottom).

Above are screenshots of the two Network Stumbler scans I completed. The one on the bottom is from Rachael's house and on the top is from South Station. There are 5 networks on the bottom and one on the top; the highlighted channel on the bottom is the Linksys network, which I am currently connected to. For each network found, the channel, MAC, SSID, Speed, Vendor, Type, Encryption, SNR, Signal, and IP are all displayed. Also, these screens show whether or not the signal is secure. The only secure signal in these cases is the Clark signal on the bottom screen.

The internet service found at South Station is not free because it isn't even accessible. There may be a way to pay the provider for the service, but it is beyond my knowledge how to even try to find the owner of the wireless broadcast. At my second site of war driving, two signals were easily accessed and therefore free; Linksys and NETGEAR. Both of these were free because they did not require a password to gain entry. This leads me to believe both the "NETGEAR" network and the "Linksys" network are unsecure because for anyone with a computer with wireless internet capabilities, it is possible to access the unsecure network. The other three, however, did require a password, which, with my limited knowledge of hacking, made it nearly impossible for me to access.

It is never ok to have a personal unsecured network. Not only is it a bad idea because other people can get your purchased internet for free, but it is also possible for them to hack into your computer through your network and access your personal information. If a company decides to offer free wifi, it probably just equips the building with a wireless signal accessible by customers and prompts them with a password at login. To make sure the company has only customers using its free internet, they make the customers go to the front desk and ask for the password. Companies will do this to bring in more business. For example, Starbucks used to broadcast free wifi throughout their whole store which not only gave people a chance to search the web for free, but it is more likely that visitors buy a coffee because they are in a coffee shop. Customers also may be more likely to buy a cup of coffee because they feel they are being treated well as customers and don't mind spending money knowing that they are being considered. Also, the company will probably make its internet accessible by customers, but not its whole network. For example, the company will probably secure all of its network files and only leave the wifi available to customers so that internet can be used but confidential files cannot be accessed.

After finding free wifi, I can do anything that I could have done had I paid for internet; I can surf the web, go on aim, search itunes, and check my outlook email. Having access to free wireless internet allows one to do almost anything on the internet, however the free internet will always be wireless, which may become a nuisance because it may go in and out of reception or it may only be accessed in certain areas of the house or yard.