Mobility Site - View Single Post

Lost Dog · 05-14-03, 01:40 PM

Yesterday I received my Netgear WGR614 (802.11 b/g) router and I have the MA701 (I think that is the number) CF Card. After playing with PocketWarrior and the Airscanner Mobile Sniffer I was shocked at the number of unprotected access points in my neighborhood (four of them can be accessed from my house). All the router values are at defaults (even login and password for router control).

This made me very paranoid about my new setup so I decided to ‘hack’ myself with different settings. I have done the following and it seems pretty secure:

Changed the Default SSID (I’m trying to figure out if I can disable the SSID broadcast)
Access restricted by MAC addresses
128 bit WEP
Only three static IPs are issued (two computers and my Axim) and only by MAC address
Router password changed from default ‘password’

Removing the Axim from the restricted MAC list I tried to see what I could do… So far I cannot see anything past the SSID using PocketWarrior any other snooping device.

The one thing I am concerned with is the use of packet sniffers. If I run Airscanner while connected with my Axim, even with WEP activated I can still see EVERYTHING that gets transmitted. I guess my question is at what point are the packets encrypted?

Is it:

Axim -> Airscanner sniffer -> Encryption -> Transmitted to router
Or
Axim -> Encryption -> Airscanner sniffer -> Transmitted to router
Or
Axim -> Encryption -> Transmitted to router-> Airscanner sniffer

Yes, the packet sniffer is on the same device that is doing the transmitting but it concerns me that I can still see the content of all the packets. Is this due to Airscanner reading it before it is transmitted?

Has anyone else played with this on their own systems (NOT HACKING NEIGHBORS)?

Please keep this discussion to personal security and not exploiting others.

05-14-03, 01:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
Lost Dog Aximsite Rookie Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 61 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Airscanner sniffer for good and not evil Yesterday I received my Netgear WGR614 (802.11 b/g) router and I have the MA701 (I think that is the number) CF Card. After playing with PocketWarrior and the Airscanner Mobile Sniffer I was shocked at the number of unprotected access points in my neighborhood (four of them can be accessed from my house). All the router values are at defaults (even login and password for router control). This made me very paranoid about my new setup so I decided to ‘hack’ myself with different settings. I have done the following and it seems pretty secure: Changed the Default SSID (I’m trying to figure out if I can disable the SSID broadcast) Access restricted by MAC addresses 128 bit WEP Only three static IPs are issued (two computers and my Axim) and only by MAC address Router password changed from default ‘password’ Removing the Axim from the restricted MAC list I tried to see what I could do… So far I cannot see anything past the SSID using PocketWarrior any other snooping device. The one thing I am concerned with is the use of packet sniffers. If I run Airscanner while connected with my Axim, even with WEP activated I can still see EVERYTHING that gets transmitted. I guess my question is at what point are the packets encrypted? Is it: Axim -> Airscanner sniffer -> Encryption -> Transmitted to router Or Axim -> Encryption -> Airscanner sniffer -> Transmitted to router Or Axim -> Encryption -> Transmitted to router-> Airscanner sniffer Yes, the packet sniffer is on the same device that is doing the transmitting but it concerns me that I can still see the content of all the packets. Is this due to Airscanner reading it before it is transmitted? Has anyone else played with this on their own systems (NOT HACKING NEIGHBORS)? Please keep this discussion to personal security and not exploiting others.