Bookmark with:

              

Wireless networks are gaining acceptance in enterprises around the world, but these networks are not always secure. Installing firewalls or intrusion detection systems on the local area network (LAN) but keeping the wireless portion of the network insecure can leave flaws in the overall security architecture

This is even easier today, when one thinks of the latest developments in mobile devices (i.e. IPhone, Smart Phones) which now include GPS sensors and smart processors, and the latest development in netbook technology. Drivers can walkers can easily buy a cheap netbook (about $350) put it in a back and then used to detect wifi networks. 

Discovering Wireless Networks 

For example, hackers can drive (called war driving) or walk by (called war chalking)  an enterprise’s buildings using software packages such as NetStumbler or Kismet to easily discover unprotected access points. War drivers can connect their laptops to a Global Positioning System (GPS) and then use NetStumbler and the GPS to produce a map of the area displaying the exact locations of the unprotected access points they discovered. It is common in some cases, for administrators to google the Internet and discover maps showing their corporate wireless networks. 

War Chalking Language

 Walkers have also developed their own "language" to communicate. They use a number of symbols and the mark on walls the networks they have discovered. Other walkers and drivers knowing how interpret those symbols, can easily identify unprotected networks and connect on them. This symbols are usually marked on walls in areas where unprotected networks exist.

 Having detect such an unprotected wifi node, malicious users can easily investigate on the Internet and detect the default WEP/WPA key offered by every ISP. In most cases simple user do not have the necessary knowledge to connect on those routers and change the default settings. Malicious Users can easily connect and abuse a user's connections or even attack a user's system(s) to attach trojan horses and viruses.