Wi-Fi wardriving is a way to find unsecured Wi-Fi, sometimes with malicious intent. Wardriving is difficult to detect, but with preparation you can protect your home network from being targeted.
What is Wi-Fi Wardriving?
The driving part in wardriving is a bit literal. Hackers drive around in a vehicle, or sometimes bicycles, with special equipment that maps out unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
There are a lot of different software tools in a wardriver's arsenal. These include packet sniffers, network traffic analysis packages, and special software designed to crack the Wi-Fi security.
Wardrivers also use special high-power antennas that are connected on their vehicles that can detect Wi-Fi networks at long distances, according to HowtoGeek.
Wardrivers also use different types of antennas based on their needs. They also use portable computers like laptops, or devices like the Raspberry Pi. They also need a GPS unit to map the locations of the vulnerable networks they discover.
What is a Wardriving Attack?
Driving around and collecting information about wireless networks is not illegal and not a threat by itself. Wardriving attacks happen when that knowledge is weaponized to infiltrate those types of networks, according to Techcratic.
If a remote attacker can log in to your Wi-Fi network, it means that they will have access to the devices connected to that network. That includes computers, storage devices, cameras, and anything else with a stable network connection.
Strangers having this type of access to your private network could be catastrophic, potentially causing severe data loss and financial damage.
The great news is that you can audit the security of your Wi-Fi network to make it has difficult as possible for wardrivers to break in.
Protect Yourself From Wardriving
To make sure that your router does not have a pending firmware update, and to make sure that both your router's administrator password and the Wi-Fi password are custom, strong passwords, you need to check the manual on the exact steps involved. This is because each router's menu look a bit different.
Also, on your Wi-Fi network, select the highest level of Wi-Fi security that is available, like WPA3. If your router does not support the latest protocols, it is time to replace it.
Keep in mind that some of the older Wi-Fi connected devices might not support that higher level of encryption. You will have to decide whether you want to lower your security in order to accommodate such devices or replace them.
You should also check whether those devices have updates that might make them compatible first.
And if you are worried about other people snooping on your Wi-Fi activity, consider using a VPN to prevent other people nearby from monitoring your network traffic.
VPN software encrypts your internet traffic and it send your data to an external server through a secure connection. You can download a VPN on your laptop, tablet, or phone, according to VPNOverview.
To download, choose a reliable VPN provider. You can check on Google Play Store or Apple Store and read the comments to know more about the provider.
Next, go to the official website of your preferred VPN provider and download the app on your device.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
