Tyler (2003:20) states that ‘War driving is the latest craze among IT techies who have yet to get a real life and involves driving around with wireless network equipped laptops to see how many company networks they can log on to. The scary thing is that, according to Ian Kilpatrick who is chairman of the IT security company Wick Hill Group, war driving around London will find about two-thirds of networks detected as using wireless connections that do not have security enabled and can be hacked into without either trouble or detection’
Wardriving is possible by using Redfang, or similar software that allows hackers to reveal corporate or personal sensitive information. Redfang allows hackers to find Bluetooth devices in the area, once found, the software takes you through the process of accessing any data that is stored on that device. Redfang also allows non-discoverable devices to be found, in other words Bluetooth devices with the security option of being ‘invisible’ is pointless.
Whitehouse (2003: 23) states that ‘In summary, there are very real risks for Bluetooth enabled devices. These risks will proliferate as adoption becomes more widespread and the devices vary from their default configuration’ As company’s are beginning to use Bluetooth enabled devices, which are often part of networks criminal activity using wireless attacks will become more prominent. These attacks will inevitably lead to malicious attacks, although Tyler (2003: 20) says that ‘Analysis of the probes revealed that 84 percent of those looking for wireless networks simply identified the presence of the network and moved on - typical behaviour of the 'war-driver' doing it for kicks (sad)’.
Although these figures appear promising organisations must be aware these ‘drivers’ are now aware of which networks have access points and where to access them. Tyler said that ‘16 percent of probes ended in eventual network access, and three-quarters of those who did access the network undertook activity that could be described as hostile
Due to this security threat many organisations and consumers will decide to stay clear from wireless networking therefore hoping to keep their information secure. Although this is a good intention, unfortunately it is not only wireless networks hackers are breaching. Other wireless components such as keyboards, printers, mouse and headphones are also possible entry points for war-drivers. A similar problem to this is the amount of laptops available with Bluetooth. Although most consumers and organisations are aware of such built in components, many are not, which provides another gateway for hackers to wirelessly enter computers or networks.
Reference List
Tyler G. (2003) ‘Management Services’, Go on a War Drive’ [Online], vol.47, no 11, p2. Avaiable: Database Service: Proquest, 470951641 [Accessed 20/10/04
Whitehouse, O. (2003).'War Nibbling: Bluetooth Insecurity' [Online]. Available: http://www.atstake.com/research/reports/acrobat/atstake_war_nibbling.pdf [Accessed 9/8/04] (Ben Henzell)
Bluetooth- Security --benhenzell 09:53, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
