Summary

War driving is a passive activity that involves the search for wireless networks. In this chapter, we looked at the hardware and software options for setting up your own war driving kit. WLAN cards have specific vendor chipsets, the three most popular of which are Hermes (made by Lucent), Prism (made by Intersil), and Aironet (made by Cisco). Popular software choices include NetStumbler (for Windows), Kismet (for Linux), and dstumbler (for BSD). Keep in mind that the software you choose may have specific hardware requirements. For example, Netstumbler works only with cards based on Hermes chipsets. Also, remember that for optimal results, you should use a pigtail and external antenna.

War driving is not hacking. In fact, I recommend users perform thorough scans for rogue APs in their own environments on a regular basis. While war driving tools help administrators identify the existence of wireless networks, if you want to take a closer look and inspect the packet contents, you will need a wireless sniffer such as AiroPeek, Sniffer Wireless, or Ethereal.

If you are war driving out in the wild, remember to unbind your TCP/IP stack from your wireless network card. Just because an AP is open doesn't mean that you have permission to use that network's resources. As a security professional, use good judgment when operating security tools.