gHacks technology news » wireless

Backup Wireless Networks

Martin — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:59:50 +0000

There are a few things when it comes to wireless networks that are best done by software programs. One of them is to add the very same settings that have been added to one computer system to another computer system. This can be necessary to be able to use the same wireless network settings on all computers or to migrate the settings to a new computer system that has been bought recently to replace the old one. The manual way would mean to enter data like the (usually long and cryptic) pre-shared key and other settings that might confuse some users.

Wireless Migrator, a software program for the Windows operating system, comes to the rescue. The portable software program can be used to backup and restore wireless networks easily. All that needs to be done to backup the wireless settings of a computer system is to execute the program after downloading and unpacking it. It will automatically scan for configured wireless networks and save them to the same directory.

The filename will usually be RestoreWireless.wnb which can be executed on the target computer to install all wireless profiles on that system as well. This will add all wireless networks to that computer system as well without having to setup and configure these manually.

Tags: backup wireless profile, backup wireless settings, portable software, wifi, windows software, wireless, wireless networks

Manage Network Devices in Fedora

Jack Wallen — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:27:16 +0000

Those of you who are thinking of giving Linux a try, but are worried that you won’t know how to do simple tasks such as controlling network devices, can let out a sigh of relief. Believe it or not, managing network devices is easier in Linux than it is in Windows.? With the help of modern desktop environments (such as GNOME and KDE) managing your ethernet and wireless devices is a snap.

In this article I am going to introduce you to the system-config-network tool that ships with the Fedora distribution. The specifics of my particular installation are:

Fedora 10
GNOME 2.24.3

Generally speaking networking in Linux is a no brainer. Especially when your machine receives its IP address via DHCP, it’s almost always just “plug and play”.? There are, of course, times when you have to configure your machine manually to use a static IP address. For this the system-config-network tool comes in very handy.

Starting the Tool

From the GNOME desktop go to the System menu and click on the Administration sub-menu. From there click on the Network entry (not the Network Device Control) to start up the tool. You will need the root password to start (and use) this tool.

system-config-network

As you can see (in the image to the left) the tool has a very user-friendly interface.? there are four main sections:

Devices: This lists the devices associated with physical hardware on your machine.
Hardware: this lists the actual networking hardware on your machine.
DNS: The hostname and DNS servers needed for your network.
Hosts: This allows you to add entries to the hostname routing table (/etc/hosts).

Configuring a New Device

Device Type

The first thing you need to do is to click the New button to begin the device setup wizard.

You will have six different types of devices to choose from. Most likely you will be configuring an Ethernet or a Wireless connection.

Once you have selected the type click the Forward button.

Let’s configure an Ethernet connection.

Which Hardware?

If your particular network card isn’t listed then most likely drivers haven’t been installed on your machine. Fortunately Linux has reached a point where most network cards are supported.

Select the card you want to configure and click the Forward button to continue on with your network configuration.

Network Settings

The next step is to actually configure the settings for your hardware. In this example a Static IP address is to be configured.

Enter in all of the relavent information for your network configuration.

Once you have completed this configuration click the Forward button to move on. The next screen only serves to review the information you have configured. Once you have reached that window, if the information is correct, click Apply to complete the setup of your network device.

You are probably asking yourself “Where is the DNS configuration?” Good question. The answer is simple. From the main window click on the DNS tab to reveal the location of DNS information for your network. Most likely it’s not there yet. On that tab you can edit the hostname of the machine and the primary, secondary, and tertiary DNS addresses. You will notice a lack of a Save button on this tab. In order to save this information you have to go to the File menu and click the Save entry.

Activate Your Interface

Go back to the main window and click on the Devices tab. Now select the interface you want to activate and click the Activate button to start the device. If you do not have access to the Activate button that means you have to go back to the devices tab, select the hardware you want to be able to activate, and click the Edit button.What you need to do is to click the “Allow All Users To Enable and Disable The Device” entry. Now save the changes (File | Save) and go back to Activate the device.

Your network device should now be up and running!

Tags: ethernet, Fedora, GNOME, Linux, linux network management, network adapter, wireless

Share your WiFi and earn with Fon

Joe — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:12:58 +0000

FON is a company, which offers wireless access. Unlike many commercial providers, like T-Mobile, it adopts a more social tone.

FON allows people to buy a wireless router from them for €30. They then share their WiFi with other Fon users and gain access to other Fon users’ connections.

Whilst many FON users are in residential areas, a few exist in public and commercial ones; there are dozens in Central London. This may rise as BT now integrates FON in their ‘Home Hub’ routers. Neuf Cegetel made a similar move.

They run a scheme which allows their users to profit. They can charge non-FON users a nominal fee to use their WiFi, so it could be extremely profitable in a central location!

La Fonera, the name of their router, transmits two SSIDs. One is encrypted, for your own private use, and one is open, for others to connect to.

If you’re interested, leave a comment to that effect and I can send you a promocode to get a €10 discount on the router.

Tags: fon, hotspot, networking, routers, wifi, wifi hotspot, wireless, wireless internet, wireless routers

Create Wireless Hotspots

Martin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:42:10 +0000

There are several reasons why someone might want to create a wireless hotspot in a location. It could be a to create a community wireless network for a household, shop or business, an Internet hotspot that provides free Internet access, Internet Sharing that makes it possible to share and pay for a single Internet connection and profit hotspots where the owner gets paid for usage.

2Hotspot is a free software that can create all kinds of wireless hotspots. Each 2hotspot network is comprised of a controller software installed on the main computer, the so called Location Management Portal which is used to create and manage the hotspot on a website and the End User Portal which can be used by end users to obtain Internet access.

The service makes use of Microsoft Microsoft Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and either a wireless router or wifi card. The online help of the wireless hotspots creator walks you through the process of installing the software.

It basically boils down to the following four installing steps: Preparing the Internet and Private Connections, Configuring Internet Connection Sharing, Testing Connectivity and installing the 2hotspot controller.

Tags: 2hotspots, create hotspots, create wireless hotspots, wifi, wifi software, windows software, wireless, wireless hotspots, wireless router, wireless software

Netgear WGR614L Open Source Wireless-G Router

Martin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:55:49 +0000

Netgear decided to hop onto the Open-Source bandwagon by developing a wireless router that would take user created firmwares without complaints, heck that was developed just for this purposes. I covered some of those firmwares in the past that can be applied to several non-Open-Source routers as well. The difference is that if something goes wrong during the firmware update you cannot count on the guarantee to replace the router.

The Netgear WGR614L Open Source Wireless-G Router is compatible to well known firmwares like Tomato and DD-WRT with several others in the making. You might be asking about the benefits of running an Open-Source router in comparison to one that is not. It all boils down to something that gets updated regularly with new features versus something that does not get updated anymore after some time has passed since the initial release.

Netgear seem to have at least one person on board that is proficient with today’s Internet. They have created a community website just for their new line of Open Source routers which perfectly catches the latest Internet trend: Social community.

The website contains blogs, a news sections, downloads, tutorials and a nicely populated forum that is slowly picking up pace. While the Netgear WGR614L Open Source Wireless-G Router is clearly aimed at Linux users Windows users can obviously use the router as well. It retails for a reasonable price of $69 and got mostly positive comments at Amazon and other online shops that sell it.

Tags: Hardware, netgear, router, wireless, wireless router

Wi-Fi Signal Strength

Martin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:19:56 +0000

The signal strength of a wireless connection is one of the most important factors that has to be considered. If the signal strength is to low it can happen that the connection cannot be established at all or that it will fail while being connected. This can lead to all kinds of problems such as data loss or that the user has to enter data again because of the interrupted connection.

WiFi SiStr (Wi-Fi Signal Strength) displays and logs the signal strength of the wireless connection. This can be helpful if you want to find out why the wireless connection drops frequently or if you want to make sure that the signal strength is sufficient all the time.

The signal strength is displayed in real time and the statistics can be used to analyze a connection over time.

The application is compatible to Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 but incompatible to Windows Vista currently. The .net framework 1.1 is required to run the software.

Tags: analyze wireless connection, signal strength, software, wi-fi, Windows, wireless, wireless connection

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor

Martin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:51:39 +0000

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor is a gadget for Windows Vista and a widget that is requiring the Yahoo Widget Framework for Windows XP and Apple Macintosh OS X. It’s an application for wireless users that displays all kind of information about discovered wireless networks that are currently in reach.

The radar view seems to be the favorite way of displaying wireless networks for several applications of that kind. The main widget displays the radar view, the network adapter and information about a wireless hotspot if one has been selected from the radar. Those information include data rate, channel, SSID and signal strength.

The software monitors the surrounding area in real time and displays new wireless hotspots once they come into reach.

A detailed view is available as well which displays additional information such as default authentication mode, encryption, frequency, network mode and type. The software makes use of all wireless network adapters installed or connected to the computer system. Statistics and a glossary are available for additional information.

Tags: hotspots, osx widget, vista gadget, wi-fi, wi-fi monitor, wireless, xp widget

WiFi for Symbian S60 Mobile Phones

Martin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:18:26 +0000

Mobile Phones that support WiFi connections have a huge advantage over those that do not. Connecting to a wireless hotspot makes it possible to use services that would otherwise cost lots of money. How about free services like VOIP phone calls, checking emails or surfing the Internet ? Best of all you can do all that with a free software that does all of that for you if your handy is using the Symbian S60 operating system and is currently supported by the developer.

In case you are wondering, HandyWi is the application that can be installed on many Nokia mobile phones including the Nokia N78, Nokia N95 and the N93. A list of supported devices can be found at the developers homepage.

The process is pretty simple. The HandyWi software has to be installed on the mobile phone which will alert the user whenever a free WiFi spot has been discovered. The user can then connect to that spot and start using services like VOIP or Internet surfing for free.

This works pretty well in combination with Notebooks as well especially if your Notebook’s wireless card is not supported by the usual applications like Netstumbler or Easy WiFi Radar.

HandyWi features:

Filtering of hotspots, separated view for public WLAN networks
HandyWi clearly shows which access point is secure and which is not
Single internet access point (HandyWi APN) for all applications (mail, web browser, char etc.)
Easy account management, several user accounts possible (scratch card, prepaid etc.)
Access to the location based media information, loaded each time you connect (works on selected WLAN networks only)
Automatic hotspot discovery and alert feature
Automatic connection to the hotspot which has stronger signal
Secure RSA encrypted communication with HandyWi server
Automatic application startup after install and on boot

HandyWi works pretty well and can be installed directly or by downloading it to the PC first.

Tags: mobile phones, N78, N95, Nokia, nokia wifi, wifi, wireless

Eye-Fi Wireless SD Memory Card

Martin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:09:47 +0000

My first thought when I heard about the Eye-Fi Wireless SD Memory Card was that no one would be going to need this SD card with build in WiFi but when I read a little bit further my opinion changed from No-one-needs-that to Wow-what-a-great-idea. The Eye-Fi SD cards come in sizes of 1 and 2 Gigabytes, the 2 Gigabyte version sells currently at Amazon for $99.99 which is way more than a SD card without WiFi would cost.

WiFi is of course what makes this SD card stand out of the crowd. There has been some confusion on how this actually works out and I would like to explain the principle. The SD card can communicate with a computer or the Internet directly and upload pictures taken with the digital camera to those locations. This means that no computer is needed after the initial setup if you want to upload the pictures to sites on the Internet.

Many popular photo sharing and printing websites can be configured using a software that is supplied with the SD card. A USB memory card reader is included with every card which means that you can plug the card into a computer and manage it from there. (Login and password for those websites for instance are stored on the card)

Supported are 40/104/128-bit WEP encryption, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK encryptions and works with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X. Only jpg images can be uploaded directly, images saved in other formats are currently not supported by the Eye-Fi SD card.

Tags: digital camera, eye-fi, memory card, sd card, wireless

Visualize Wlans on a Map

Martin — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:00:54 +0000

Wlandscape is a Java application that displays the Wlans in a specified area on a street map making it so much easier to identify possible hotspots that can be used to access the Internet. The software needs some batch file editing before it can be used, nothing serious though.

The file javax.comm.properties has to be moved from the Wlandscape directory into the lib directory of the JRE installation of your computer. This can be found in the Program Files folder normally. After copying this library the run.bat file has to be edited to point to the correct installation of the Java Runtime Environment on your computer.

Finally Wlandscape can be started by double-clicking on the run.bat file. The best approach would be to search for Wlans by address. You can enter city, zip and street information and let Wlandscape search for hits. If more than one possibility is found it will ask the user to pick one result of the list.

What I like is that Wlandscape supports automated tracking by GPS and that Netstumbler information can be imported as well.

Tags: wireless, wlan, wlandscape

Wireless Hotspot Hacks

Martin — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 06:39:34 +0000

Did you know that it is relativly easy to phish Wi-Fi hotspot subscription credentials ? The process involves only two steps and requires a wireless network card that supports the HostAp drivers which makes it look like the signal is actually coming from a hotspot and not from an ad hoc network.

You have to setup your computer to look like a legit Access Point broadcasting the actual SSID of the service and you will have to fake a login page to resemble the login page of the service that you are emulating. The ethical hacker network describe everything with lots of screenshots. The most important part of the article is of course the way to defend against this fake Access Points.

It is highly difficulty for the normal user to validate an access point. You could check the AP settings if offered, for example the Authenticity Certificate of the Access Point and of the login website that you are visiting. Another way to prevent a MITM attack would be to utilize server host authentication, which prevents an attacker from being able to impersonate the access point because they do not have access to the AP’s private key.

Tags: hotspots, Security, wireless

Six WiFi Security Myths

Martin — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 06:24:34 +0000

There have been lots of articles lately that explain how to secure a wireless network. Most of this articles contain at least one measure that is not enhancing security at all. This does not neccessarily mean that it is lowering the security on the other hand though. Let us take a look at the six dumbest ways to secure a Wireless Lan.

1. Mac Filtering

Mac Filtering does not protect against the forgery of a mac address, which is terribly easy using a network sniffer. It still could be a valuable line of defense against neighbours and kids who are only able to push buttons and don´t understand the concept.

2. SSID Hiding

This is hiding SSID beaconing on the access point while four other mechanisms are able to broadcast the SSID.

3. LEAP Authentication

It relies on its users and their passwords. LEAP requires strong passwords to be relativly secure and we all know about the passwords of normal day users.

4. Disable DHCP

DHCP allows the automatic assignment of IP addresses. If you disable it you have to assign all IPs manually. It is not taking longer than 10 seconds to figure out the IP scheme of any network and assign the own IP address.

5. Antenna Placement

This is pretty useless as well, telling everyone to move their antenna in the midth of the room and running them with little power. The antenna of the access point is not the only factor that determines if it can be reached, the antenna of the client is also a factor. What if the hacker has a bigger antenna that still reaches your access point ?

6. Just use 802.11a or Bluetooth

This has nothing to do with security, those are just different standards.

Tags: Security, wifi, wireless

Wireless Security: Attacks and Defenses

admin — Wed, 17 May 2006 08:06:41 +0000

The article wireless security attacks and defenses begins with a example how people who are new to the wireless world run their wireless devices carelessly and thus invite others (with more knowledge) to exploit this weakness. Those people run for example wireless routers at factory defaults because they don´t know better, they think the device is safe the way it´s preconfigured.

My personal advice would be to avoid using something that you don´t know enough about. You should read at least the instructions which should help you setup a relative secure system but that´s of course not sufficient. You should do some research on the internet and articles like the one mentioned above help you understand the concepts and secure your wireless connection.

You could hope of course that nothing will go bad, that no one will get access to your computer, find out about your private files, share child pornography with it, download music from it aso. But I would not take any chances.

Back to the article: It lists Vulnerabilities and Attack Methods (Human Error, Rogue Access Points, Warchalking, MAC Address Spoofing, Noisy Neighbors, Improper Design and Man-In-The-Middle Attacks). You get a good basic understanding of those vulnerabilities and attack methods. This is of course no in depth knowledge but solid beginners knowledge. As always, if you want to know more you have to research.

After explaining the attack methods the article lists defense measures starting with basic defense methods. (WEP, MAC Address Blocking, Ditch the Defaults, Beacon Intervals, Access Lists, Controlling Reset and Disable DHCP)

The article gives a basic overview, you will have to find out how to setup your wireless router properly, that´s something the article won´t mention. Mainly because there are hundreds of different routers out there and it would be impossible to give configuration advices for all of them. Read the manual of your router and I suggest you visit the manufacturer homepage and see if there are updates for it available (firmware for instance). Maybe the manufacturer has a forum where users post their experience, this are always valuable sources for information.

Tags: disable dhcp, wireless, wireless devices, wireless security

Cracking Wi-Fi Protected Access

Martin — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:00:59 +0000

Wireless Networks are becoming more and more common these days and lots of people are ignoring the fact that they have to secure their wireless lan. Seth Fogie from informit estimates that about 40-50% of all wireless lan users use no protection at all for their network.

The article examines the WPA protection in detail and demonstrates how it can be cracked. The first part gives a good overview of WPA and compares it to WPE. The second part goes into detail how WPA can be cracked.

Tags: crack, secure, Security, wi-fi, wireless, wpa, wpe

Essential Wireless Hacking Tools

Martin — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:34:19 +0000

Wireless hacking becomes more widespread these days. Many people drive / walk through town with their laptops trying to find unprotected wireless networks to do all sorts of things. Most harmless one would be to use your connection to surf and download, but it could also include downloading your files, spamming using your computer, installing malicous programs on your computer aso.

But this is no article on how to protect yourself, I probably write one soon. The Ethical Hacker Network published an interesting article by Daniel V. Hoffman about essential wireless hacking tools. The article has four chapters: Finding Wireless Networks, Attaching to the Found Wireless Network, Sniffing Wireless Data and Protecting Against These Tools.

Daniel reviews some tools in each chapter always giving you more than one choice to try out and finally use the tool that suits you best.

[tags]wireless, hacking, wireless hacking, hacking tools, ethereal, sniffing, network[/tags]

Tags: Hacking, wireless

gHacks technology news » wireless

Backup Wireless Networks

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