Wireless Hacking : Projects for Wi-Fi Enthusiasts - Cut the Cord and Discover the World of Wireless Hacks!

by Barken

• ISBN13: 9781931836371
• ISBN10: 193183637X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-11
• Publisher: Elsevier Science

Summary

Sales of wireless LANs to home users and small businesses will soar this year, with products using IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology leading the way, according to a report by Cahners research. Worldwide, consumers will buy 7.3 million wireless LAN nodes--which include client and network hub devices--up from about 4 million last year. This third book in the "HACKING" series from Syngress is written by the SoCalFreeNet Wireless Users Group and will cover 802.11a/b/g (Wi-Fi) projects teaching these millions of Wi-Fi users how to "mod" and "hack" Wi-Fi access points, network cards, and antennas to run various Linux distributions and create robust Wi-Fi networks. Cahners predicts that wireless LANs next year will gain on Ethernet as the most popular home network technology. Consumers will hook up 10.9 million Ethernet nodes and 7.3 million wireless out of a total of 14.4 million home LAN nodes shipped. This book will show Wi-Fi enthusiasts and consumers of Wi-Fi LANs who want to modify their Wi-Fi hardware how to build and deploy homebrew Wi-Fi networks, both large and small. * Wireless LANs next year will gain on Ethernet as the most popular home network technology. Consumers will hook up 10.9 million Ethernet nodes and 7.3 million wireless clients out of a total of 14.4 million home LAN nodes shipped. * This book will use a series of detailed, inter-related projects to teach readers how to modify their Wi-Fi hardware to increase power and performance to match that of far more expensive enterprise networking products. Also features hacks to allow mobile laptop users to actively seek wireless connections everywhere they go! * The authors are all members of the San Diego Wireless Users Group, which is famous for building some of the most innovative and powerful "home brew" Wi-Fi networks in the world.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xxi
Introduction	xxiii
Part I Introduction to Wireless Hacking	1	(56)
A Brief Overview of the Wireless World	3	(20)
Introduction to Wi-Fi	4	(1)
The History and Basics of 802.11	4	(11)
IEEE Alphabet Soup	5	(1)
802.11b	5	(2)
802.11a	7	(2)
802.11g	9	(1)
Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure Modes	9	(1)
Connecting to an Access Point	10	(4)
FCC Regulations	14	(1)
FCC and IEEE Regulations	14	(1)
Why Wi-Fi?	15	(5)
Benefits for Property Owners	16	(1)
Benefits for Volunteers	16	(1)
Social Ramifications	17	(1)
Security in a Community Wireless Network	18	(1)
Every Computer Needs to Be Protected	18	(1)
Legal Liability	19	(1)
Defending the Neighborhood	20	(1)
Summary	20	(3)
SoCalFreeNet.org: Building Large Scale Community Wireless Networks	23	(10)
Introduction	24	(1)
Wireless Distribution System (WDS)	24	(1)
5 GHz Links	25	(1)
Working with Client Devices	26	(2)
Competing with the Phone/Cable Companies	28	(1)
Outfitting Coffee Shops and Retail Locations	29	(1)
Getting the Neighborhood Involved	30	(1)
Summary	31	(2)
Securing Our Wireless Community	33	(24)
Introduction	34	(1)
The Captive Portal	35	(9)
Preparing for the Hack	35	(1)
Wiring the Network for Security	36	(1)
Choosing the Captive Portal Software and Hardware	37	(3)
Performing the Hack: Enabling Our Captive Portal	40	(1)
Writing Our Terms of Service	41	(1)
Captive Portal Graphics	42	(2)
Building a PPTP VPN	44	(10)
Preparing for the Hack	45	(1)
Performing the Hack: Enabling the VPN	45	(5)
Configuring Our Community Users	50	(4)
Hacking the Mind of a Wireless User	54	(2)
Preparing for the Hack	54	(1)
Performing the Hack: The Beginning and the End	54	(2)
Other Hacks	56	(1)
Part II Hacking Projects	57	(58)
Wireless Access Points	59	(38)
Introduction	60	(1)
Wi-Fi Meets Linux	60	(15)
Reflashing	60	(1)
Linksys WRT54g	60	(1)
Sveasoft	61	(8)
NewBroadcom	69	(1)
HyperWRT	70	(1)
eWRT	71	(1)
Wifi-box	72	(2)
Batbox	74	(1)
OpenWRT	75	(1)
WRT54G Shortcomings	75	(1)
Soekris Single-Board Computers	75	(6)
net4501	76	(1)
net4511	77	(1)
net4521	78	(1)
net4526	79	(1)
net4801	79	(1)
Soekris Accessories	80	(1)
Proxim 8571 802.11a Access Point	81	(14)
Preparing for the Hack	83	(1)
Performing the Hack	84	(5)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	89	(6)
Summary	95	(2)
Wireless Client Access Devices	97	(18)
Introduction	98	(1)
Notebook Computers	98	(2)
PCMCIA Cards	98	(1)
Mini-PCI Cards	99	(1)
Desktop Computers	100	(3)
PCI Cards	101	(1)
USB Devices	101	(2)
Ethernet Bridges	103	(1)
PDAs	103	(2)
Compact Flash	104	(1)
Secure Digital IO Cards	105	(1)
WarDriving	105	(8)
Why Are People WarDriving?	106	(1)
Preparing for the Hack	106	(1)
Required Equipment	107	(1)
WarDriving Software	107	(1)
Optional Equipment	108	(4)
WarDriving Ethics	112	(1)
Other Resources	113	(2)
Part III Software Projects	115	(110)
Wireless Operating Systems	117	(46)
Introduction	118	(2)
m0n0wall---Powerful, Elegant, Simple	120	(28)
Preparing for the Hack	121	(1)
m0n0wall on a Standard PC	121	(1)
m0n0wall on a Single Board Computer (SBC)	121	(1)
Performing the Hack	122	(1)
Downloading a Recent Version	123	(1)
Creating a CD-ROM from Windows	123	(2)
Creating a Compact Flash (CF) Card from Windows	125	(2)
Starting Your Standard PC	127	(4)
Starting Your SBC	131	(3)
Configuring m0n0wall	134	(14)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	148	(1)
Pebble---Powerful, Raw, Complete	148	(15)
Preparing for the Hack	149	(1)
Performing the Hack	150	(1)
Creating a Boot CD and Starting Knoppix	150	(2)
Configuring the Compact Flash Reader/Writer	152	(2)
Formatting the Compact Flash Card	154	(2)
Downloading Pebble	156	(1)
Copying Pebble to the Compact Flash	156	(2)
Booting Pebble	158	(1)
Configuring Pebble	158	(2)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	160	(3)
Monitoring Your Network	163	(36)
Introduction	164	(1)
Enabling SNMP	165	(3)
Preparing for the Hack	165	(1)
Performing the Hack	165	(2)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	167	(1)
Getif and SNMP Exploration for Microsoft Windows	168	(5)
Preparing for the Hack	168	(1)
Performing the Hack	168	(1)
Retrieving Device Interface Information	169	(1)
Exploring the SNMP OIDs	170	(2)
Graphing the Data	172	(1)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	173	(1)
STG and SNMP Graphs for Microsoft Windows	173	(4)
Preparing for the Hack	174	(1)
Performing the Hack	174	(3)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	177	(1)
Cacti and Comprehensive Network Graphs	177	(21)
Preparing for the Hack	178	(1)
Apache	178	(1)
PHP	179	(1)
Perl	179	(1)
RRDTool	179	(1)
MySQL	179	(1)
Cacti	179	(1)
Performing the Hack	179	(1)
Installing Apache	180	(2)
Installing PHP	182	(3)
Installing Perl	185	(1)
Installing RRDTool	185	(1)
Installing MySQL	186	(1)
Miscellaneous Settings	186	(1)
Installing Cactid and Cacti	187	(5)
Graphing Data in Cacti	192	(5)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	197	(1)
Additional References	198	(1)
Low-Cost Commercial Options	199	(16)
Introduction	200	(1)
Sputnik	200	(7)
Sputnik Access Points	200	(2)
Sputnik Control Center	202	(2)
Sputnik Features	204	(1)
Captive Portal	204	(1)
Pre-Paid Module	205	(2)
A Sputnik Revolution	207	(1)
Sveasoft	207	(2)
Mikro Tik	209	(3)
Summary	212	(3)
Mesh Networking	215	(10)
Introduction	216	(9)
Preparing the Hacks	217	(1)
The Basic Definitions	218	(2)
WDS (Wireless Distribution System)	220	(2)
Real World Example	222	(1)
Example Two: Locust World Mesh Networks	222	(1)
Summary	223	(1)
Additional Resouces on the Web	224	(1)
Part IV Antennas and Outdoor Enclosure Projects	225	(74)
Antennas	227	(20)
Introduction	228	(1)
Before You Start: Basic Concepts and Definitions	228	(12)
Federal Communications Commission	234	(2)
Attenuation in Cables, Connectors, and Materials	236	(2)
System Grounding and Lightning Protection	238	(2)
Building a Coffee Can Antenna	240	(4)
Preparing for the Hack	240	(1)
Performing the Hack	241	(2)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	243	(1)
Troubleshooting Common Antenna Issues	244	(1)
The Future of Antennas	244	(1)
Summary	245	(2)
Building Outdoor Enclosures and Antenna Masts	247	(28)
Introduction	248	(1)
Building Outdoor Enclosures	248	(15)
Preparing for the Hack	249	(1)
Selecting a Raw Enclosure	249	(3)
Hardware Selection	252	(3)
Performing the Hack	255	(1)
Metal NEMA 3 Enclosures	255	(8)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	263	(1)
Building Antenna Masts	263	(2)
Preparing for the Hack	264	(1)
Performing the Hack	265	(8)
The Free-Standing Antenna Mast	265	(4)
Direct Mount Antenna Masts	269	(3)
Lightning Protection	272	(1)
Summary	273	(2)
Solar-Powered Access Points and Repeaters	275	(24)
Introduction	276	(23)
Preparing for the Hack	276	(1)
Calculating Power Requirements	276	(3)
Battery Selection	279	(2)
Selecting a Solar Panel	281	(5)
Performing the Hack	286	(1)
Structure	286	(2)
Solar Panel	288	(1)
Electrical	288	(6)
Electronics	294	(1)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	295	(1)
The Batteries	296	(1)
The Solar Panel	296	(3)
Appendix A Wireless 802.11 Hacks	299	(26)
Introduction	300	(1)
Wireless NIC/PCMCIA Card Modifications: Adding an External Antenna Connector	301	(7)
Preparing for the Hack	302	(1)
Performing the Hack	303	(1)
Removing the Cover	303	(2)
Moving the Capacitor	305	(2)
Attaching the New Connector	307	(1)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	308	(1)
OpenAP (Instant802): Reprogramming Your Access Point with Linux	308	(6)
Preparing for the Hack	309	(1)
Performing the Hack	310	(1)
Installing the SRAM Card	311	(3)
Power Me Up, Scotty!	314	(1)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	314	(1)
Having Fun with the Dell 1184 Access Point	314	(7)
Preparing for the Hack	315	(1)
Performing the Hack	316	(5)
Under the Hood: How the Hack Works	321	(1)
Summary	321	(1)
Additional Resources and Other Hacks	321	(4)
User Groups	321	(1)
Research and Articles	322	(1)
Products and Tools	322	(3)
Index	325