Cracking a wifi connection
 

I was wondering if it is possible to crack a wifi connection with my Nokia n810? I am trying to crack the wifi connection at my work so I can check my e-mails when on my break. I have heard of something called aircrack.

*I have installedaircrack-ng version 0.9.1-1 using the application manager...how to I access it or use it? It's shwing that it's installed, but it's not under any of my application categorys.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Last I recall the tablets couldn't inject packets, making aircrack largely useless...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

I strongly recommend that you don't try to crack your work wifi connection. It's one thing to crack residential or 'hotspot' wifi, but if you are found out trying to crack your work wifi then that might be a serious disciplinary offence!

Why not just ask your IT people?

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

They won't beable to find out who cracked it. I work in a factory, so finding the source is hard as hell. I just want to know if it's possible to do? I have aircrack installed on it, but I can't find it once it's installed? I just want to know if it's possible to do? Or, if there is another program I can install...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Aircrack has to be run from termnial mode. There is no icon for it in your extra's list. It's quite an involved program. The wireless card in the n810 does not support packet injection so trying to crack the network would probably take a very long time unless you used one of the usb wifi dongles that support packet injection. Also its nearly impossible to crack if your work network has WPA encryption. It needs to have wep ecryption to be successful. It's just not worth trying from the tablet IMHO. You could just use a laptop that has a supported wireless card built in and install the windows version of aircrack. The original developer has since stopped development on this app for legal reasons, but google it you might get lucky.
Good luck!

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

I'm one who agrees with Pelago. Either ask your IT people for permission to access the wireless or go without. (You could also use the mifi device, a bluetooth enabled phone, or something similar to get access to email using 3g) The reason I say don't crack your wifi is because that's an incredibly fast way to get thrown in jail. Cracking wifi is more than just getting in trouble with your boss. It's actually a felony now, hence why aircrack isn't developed anymore.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

It is not illegal to use a tool like Aircrack for penetration testing as long as you have permission. You can give yourself permission if you own the network.

But in Germany it is recently made illegal to host and/or develop such software thanks to Mr Schlaube. Thats why tools such as Aircrack(-ng) had to move away from Germany.

I wouldn't help you because you clearly state why you want to use this. Whereas for someone who doesn't mention this, it is unclear you however clearly don't have permission. Therefore, someone who helps you now is potentially helping you commiting a felony.

Having that said, the information is easily available for anyone who is able to search, without discriminating on motive.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

IMHO if you break security at your employer at the very least you deserve to be fired and when caught probably will. If you have to ask, you don't posess the skills or knowledge to avoid being caught. You'll be easy pickings for a knowledgable IT department. Since you asked in public you may not have the intellectual discipline not to brag about your unethical exploits -- a sure way to be caught.

Most companies email systems are accessable over the Internet. Teather your N810 with bluetooth to a cell with a data plan. You can then access your email without risking your livelyhood.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Or your freedom. :P

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

The cradlepoint 300 is available now, and using a combination of gizmo5, grandcentral, dialcentral, and the built-in internet calling app you can use your data connection for voip calls, thusly filling your need to 'stick it to the man.'

edit: and by 'your' I'm referring to the OP...not you, Lord Raiden.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Wow...opened a can of not-so-cool beans! I am not trying to corrupt the company or anything like that. All I wanted to to was be able to to check my facebook and yahoo e-mail when I was on break.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

All security breaches are taken as a serious matter regardless of the breacher's motives or intent. This is the reality. Your safe choice is tethering the N810 to a personal cell. This will also be to your benefit from a privacy standpoint. Anything that moves on a companies network is subject to inspection and even storage.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

I'm right there with ya, but it can't be done effectively on the tablet. The cost of a cheap laptop that would allow you to do so is still significantly more expensive than the cradlepoint 300 and a couple months of mobile broadband. As an added bonus, you get online wherever you go.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Things cost what they do and the consumer has to decide if the benefit justifies the cost. For me cell data is very overpriced and it's use too controlled by the carriers. I'm freelance and only use cell for voice. A $7.95 per month Boingo mobile account and Starbucks is my out of the of the office choice for email. If I'm really hard up I can even, dread, find a McDonald's.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Perhaps the real costs are what motivated the factory owner(s) to secure the network in the first place... Lost time and legal liabilities!

How long before more hourly workers start using the network? Start playing network games? Start streaming network media? Start posting in social networks from the factory IP? Pron? Etc.

Unfortunately in the US some hourly wage employers feel the need to make the employees paid time as tedious as possible. :p

In these situations some hourly employees tend to find anything to help relieve that tedium. Some are quite ingenious too!
Sometimes these employee schemes end up costing the employer more than what the security was designed to "save" in the first place.

If breaks are scheduled for everyone at the same times, the smart play for the employer may be to provide free access only during those times.

***

As more and more of our personal lives are managed and conducted on-line, I have a feeling that timed internet access may be used in the future as a means of crowd control or to prompt simple conditioned responses. :)

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Say this guy figures out all the stuff he needs and he does use this at his place of business on their network or he goes to one of those paid hotspots to use it. What could get him caught short of him bragging about it ?

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

The problem is that you made your position in the matter very clear: you do not have permission to do what you are asking us to help you with. You're asking us to aid you in doing something to a property without the owners consent. Thats the same as you're asking someone about lockpicking with the clear intention of burglary.

Someone on a shooting range doesn't want to know why the person wants to learn shooting either. Same for say martial arts. We assume the person has good intentions and leave it at that. But if the person clearly states his/her bad or questionable intentions we must bail out.

You can ask the network owner for permission, or you can ask someone who does not know your motives for help.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Ok. As someone who operates a corporate network, let me tell you how this would go.

My access points are routers, running DD-WRT. They're configured for WPA-PSK.

After banging on the network for however long that took, our hero here would finally get connected. And the router would note a new connection, and tell my network management system about it. The NMS would look at the MAC address listed in the packet, note that it doesn't recognize it, and send me an email about it, which my mail system would forward to my BlackBerry, annotated with the manufacturer name derived from the first 3 octets of the MAC.

So, here's this email saying "New unknown wifi connection from 'Nokia Danmark A/S': 00-00-00".

Gee? I wonder who (else) has an n800 in the building and knows the passcode I didn't give them?

Users tend to think about wifi access as "getting to the net". Network managers tend to think about it as "keeping unwanted people out of my fileservers".

Now, stipulated, your wifi in a corporate network shouldn't *be* inside your firewall; users should be required to VPN in to your corpnet even if it's your own wifi they're on... but most people still don't do it that way.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

NEVERMIND!! GOD, simple questions get unsimple answers!!

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Ah, life as it should be...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Oh, boy... Where to start....

It IS possible to locate a rogue device on a wireless network and moreover, my wireless network has the ability to triangulate the location of ANY device within a few feet... Do it all the time.. iPhones are my worst nightmare...

In some locations we have a public wifi signal available, but that even requires a login, much like in a hotel or Boingo spot.

Anyway... Just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone thought that they could not be "found" on a wireless network...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Have you stopped beating your wife?

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

The other thing he wanted to know was something about the infamous sir A. McSpoofing.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

So network professionals might be able to track you down but what about those locked hotspots at coffee shops or airports? I highly doubt starbucks or mcdonalds has a network security guy in the back. Or do they train the baristas and burger flippers?! haha

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Is a thief only a thief if caught? Your ethics escape me.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Network professionals have many tools at their disposal and are very resourceful...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

:( I feel like an ***. You're right, stealing is wrong.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

There you go again.

"Theft" has a very specific legal meaning, and I have seen no case law that applies it even to the more clear cut case of music sharing, much less "use of a non-secured wifi connection and the Internet uplink behind it".

Certainly theft is bad.

People on your side of this argument merely continue not to make a valid, supportable case that the behaviour in question (being technically unsavvy, bringing home a new laptop, not realizing its your neighbor's wifi your getting to the internet with) constitutes anything resembling bad behaviour; see about about 'scienter', and until you can counter that particular argument, stop throwing around words that -- were you talking about a particular person -- might well constitute slander.

I am not a lawyer, but I've been playing one on the Internet for over 25 years...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Life is never simple.

But this thread has been an interesting read, I didn't know I could be tracked down through wireless. That's kind of creepy in a cool sort of way.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Depends on where the person resides as well, and one doesn't have to be sued with theft specifically. I've seen a case here where someone ran a server using bandwidth, without paying for it, without the owners of the network knowing this. Once they figured it out they sued him for theft -- unsuccesfully. Because one cannot steal 'bandwidth'. Try the same with electricity (as happens with folks who grow their own cannabis in their basement using 'tapped' electricity) and you are hosed.

So while what you say might be true in US if we see it as questionable to help someone who states their specific goal with the tool then we're in our right to refuse to help that person and warn others to not do this. I've also already told him a way around it to solve the issue.

Ofcourse there are cases where murder or robbing a bank is justified. But we cannot assume it is justified when someone asks us for help concerning that...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

There you go again! -- you asked for help cracking your employers security.

Cracking someones security doen't change the owners intention that the connection be unsecure any more than breaking and entering makes you a home owner. Even if the act isn't illegal it is still unethical.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Agreed with Fragos. If you have to "crack" the network to gain access.. that is no different than "picking" a lock to get into a home. It's not "theft", but AFAIK, it is still illegal.

Let's look at DRM/DMCA for a second. According to the Fair Use laws.. it SHOULD be legal for you to make a backup copy of any DVD/CD/etc that you own for personal purposes. However, since the *AA industry wants to stop pirating they place on DRM technologies. Now, while it might be legal for you to make a backup of your DVD.. it is *illegal* for you to circumvent or bypass the DRM technology on the disc.. virtually making even playing encrypted DVD's in Linux potentially "illegal". Example.

Now, IANAL of course, but I am pretty sure there are several laws that actually make illegal the mere act of "breaking" the encryption on wireless (or wired) networks. This has nothing to do with "stealing", "theft" or even bandwidth, simply the fact that you are gaining access to something that the owner wishes to remain private, without consent. The reasons are irrelevant.. just like it wouldn't matter if you were freezing to death or starving on the street before you decided to break in to a house and take some food.

You'd still be charged for it. Reasons are, usually, irrelevant in law.

Now.. what I've always been curious is, is it illegal for me to connect to a Neighbor's wifi that is totally *unsecured*?? No WEP, WPA, Nothing.. my computer just automatically connects because - hey, it's there?

Oh.. and count me in on the bandwagon of people that know that a wireless device can be found.

Again - IANAL.. I just like chiming in on random subjects :D

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Good points, also keep in mind its US specific. It is not illegal to circumvent DRM in every situation, or to reverse engineer something.

Did you hear about iTunes coupons being cracked? For 3 USD you get a 200 USD coupon. If they can track down the bad coupons those who bought em will probably lose their credit (or even get in debt)...

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Yeah.. I don't know all the loop holes, or when you can, when you can't, what you can/can't do.. etc. I have just spent quite a while looking online trying to figure out whether it's *actually* illegal to make a personal backup copy of a DVD that I own. The answer seems to be... "It's legal till you go to court for it".

The whole DRM/DMCA thing is kind of a joke, IMHO.

And yes... everything I've said is very US specific... since the US seems to be the most anal, ridiculous country ever with regards to computer laws.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

I've heard in the UK they wish to make it illegal to access other's open wireless and even illegal to have an open wireless access point. In the US I don't think we have a specific law on the act of using an open wireless connection. I leave my home wireless open when I'm on the computer -- which is most of the time. I've on occasion used an open connection to check my email. I use a $7.95 per month Boingo mobile account which provides access to a large number of WiFi locations with my N810. On a personal level, I set ethical rules for myself. I consider that every act I take may have a negative consequence on another.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Just because doing something is illegal that doesn't make it a negative act. It would be illegal for you to don a ninja suit and run around the night slicing meth dealers but I see nothing wrong with that at all.

Re: Cracking a wifi connection
 

Wow. Work on the reading comprehension.

SOME OTHER GUY asked for help on that.

I was on the "I will be paged the second you associate" side.

Not that this justifies your view point.

More likely because, being a *crime*, that's not someone for which one sues another, it's something which one invites a DA to prefer criminal charges for -- or doesn't, if that DA doesn't think he can win a case.