Wardriving – What is it, and why does it affect me?
Back in the days when the only cost effective way to get on the Internet was with a modem, people used to use their computers to dial random phone numbers, hoping to connect to another computer that they could then pillage for data. This was called “War Dialing”. I actually knew a guy who took this a step farther and wrote a program on his Commodore 64 that could spoof the phone company computers and let him make “free” long distance phone calls…well, at least free to him…but I digress. In the modern day of broadband and high-speed internet, people have migrated from modems to routers, many of which have wireless capability. “War Driving” is the act of driving around in a car looking for “open” wireless access points, usually with a booster antenna on the roof that is attached to a wireless LAN card in a laptop. But these days, this can also be done with a PDA, like an iPAQ.
“So how does this affect me” you ask? Well, if you like giving all of your neighbors free access to the broadband you are paying for, it doesn’t affect you and you can stop reading here. But it’s not just your neighbors that may be “borrowing” your broadband. There are web sites dedicated to showing where “open” wireless access points are all over the country. Just search Google or your favorite search engine and you will find various “projects” that have taken place across the country that show both secure and unsecured wireless access points. These include businesses as well as residential access points. The maps of Manhattan are especially eye opening. So, what does this all mean? It means that anyone with a tool like NetStumbler (which is free) can find your wireless access point and then make use of it, completely anonymously. This is one of the scariest things. All these unsecured access points have given any potential terrorists a completely secure and anonymous tool to get online. Any suspicious activity would be traced back to you. Do you really want the potential of having the FBI or other law enforcement agency knocking on your door, or worse yet knocking our door down? Maybe even taking all of your computer equipment? I know I don’t, and I don’t believe anyone else does either. This is one of the reasons I have dedicated my business to security and trying to educate the public and business world about the dangers of having their wireless networks unsecured.
Another aspect is that you are giving anyone complete unfettered access to your network. What could be worse than that! It is kind of like leaving your front door standing open when you leave home and hoping that no one will notice, walk in and steal all of your stuff. I don’t think any one of us would do that. While your wireless access point doesn’t leave your front door open, it does leave open all access to your computer. Most of us use some sort of computer based banking, whether it is Microsoft Money, Quicken, QuickBooks or something else. Anyone that attaches to your wireless network can access the files that are on your computer, potentially gaining bank account numbers, passwords any anything else you store on your computer.
And all this can be done just by driving down your street. Want to know how to secure your wireless router? Read my article on securing your router, or if you are not comfortable making the changes yourself or have trouble, contact a support person in your area. They can help you make sure your wireless is secure. You can even give then a copy of my article and have them check off each of the steps as they are completed.
