Stop Wardriving Attacks: 5 Strategies for Mitigating it

wardriving attack in cybersecurity is a term that has gained attention in recent years due to the increasing prevalence of WiFi network Breaches.

In this blog post, we will explore the concept of wardriving attacks, understand how it works, and discuss ways to protect yourself from such attacks. So, if you’re curious about “What is Wardriving Attacks”, keep reading!

Definition of wardriving

Wardriving is a technique of exploiting the Wi-Fi network, to find a public Wi-Fi network by using a moving vehicle like a van, or car. Often, public networks are open to the public and can be exploited if security measure is missing.

Scammers use laptops, and mobile phones to search the Wi-Fi in a particular area. Because smart devices can search the network when the wifi is ON. Wardrivers use software and hardware tools to locate, map, and potentially access unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

From moving vehicles such as cars, they attempt to locate and connect vulnerable networks. Later it is used for potential attacks. Once they find an insecure network, they create a digital map and may submit the information to third-party websites and apps to create digital maps.

Wardriving attacks can be used for multiple purposes like

1. access free internet
2. testing the security of the network
3. to launch a malicious attack

Wardriving originated from wardialing, a method of dialing phone numbers in search of modems. Wardriving is also related to other practices such as working, warwalking, waiting, and war flying

Importance of wardriving in cybersecurity

It is a very important question about the importance of wardriving in cybersecurity. While wardriving can be used for legitimate purposes, such as exploring vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi networks or validating security measures, it is also used for cyber hacking purposes.

Stealing data, hacking systems, and launching a malicious attack using a Wi-Fi address may be a purpose behind the wardriving in cybersecurity. There are many reasons why cybercriminals want to wardrive a Wi-Fi network.

For example, a cybercriminal uses it to find vulnerabilities in the network. So that they can exploit them. Wardriving networks also help security providers to identify potential security threats.

What are the wardriving attacks?

A wardriving attack in cybersecurity is a type of cyberattack that involves scanning and exploiting a Wi-Fi network that has vulnerabilities. Wardriving attackers use hardware and software to find public wifi in a certain area.

They use mobiles, laptops, Wi-Fi cards, and signal antennae to find a Wi-Fi network. They use hardware tools to improve the scanning capacity of the device.

The software used by warring attacks are:

1. KisMac
2. Aircrack
3. Cain
4. Able

The other software is used to bypass network security and connect to a Wi-Fi network, weak encrypted Wi-Fi networks.

• CoWPAtty
• iStumbler
• InSSIDer
• WiFiphisher

Wardriving attacks can pose various risks and vulnerabilities for wireless network owners and users, such as data breaches, identity theft, financial losses, legal liabilities, reputation damage, regulatory fines, network congestion, performance degradation, service interruption, malware infection, ransomware encryption, or botnet recruitment.

History of Wardriving Attacks

Wardriving is popularized by the film WarGames. The term wardriving comes from the movie WarGames released in 1983. In the movie, the character played by Matthew Broderick uses a computer to dial multiple phone numbers to identify a working modem. Wardriving is an evolution of this process and involves searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks, usually from a moving vehicle, using a laptop or smartphone.

How Wardriving Works

The Wardrive technique uses hardware and software tools to detect Wi-Fi vulnerabilities. It includes:

1. Use a Device- Mobile phone, wifi cards, the wifi signal caught by it.
2. Software like Kismat, Aircrak, Cain, and Able to bypass the network security measures.

If hackers succeed in establishing the connection by bypassing network security, they use it for potentially malicious activities like installing malware on your home computer.

They can also carry out online frauds such as identity theft, using the private data they obtain from the computer and other devices connected to your network.

What is an example of Wardriving Attacks?

Here are the examples of wardriving in cybersecurity:

1. Home network or Home Wi-Fi
2. Commercial wifi

• Home network wardriving– A home network is easy to exploit by hackers if network security is not up to the mark. Cybercriminals searching out home routers that have not been properly secured. This type of wardriving usually takes place in urban areas.
• Corporate network wardriving– an example of wardriving sees the perpetrator mapping the vulnerable Wi-Fi networks of businesses and corporate organizations. In this kind of wardriving, hackers also look for guest networks that allow them to connect to anyone on the network.

Wardriving map

Wardriving hackers use a Wi-Fi-equipped device together with a GPS device to record the location of wireless networks. The results can then be uploaded to websites like WiGLE, openBmap, or Geomena where the data is processed to form maps of the network neighborhood.

In December 2004, a total of 100 undergraduates worked to map the city of Seattle, Washington. They found 5225 area networks.

Of the total networks, 44 percent were encrypted with WEP encryption, 52 percent were open networks, and 3. percent were pay-for-access. They noticed the security of the networks depending on the area. The information was collected into high-resolution maps, which were published online.

Tools and Techniques

To effectively conduct wardriving, various components and tools are required. Tools used for wardriving are:

1. Devices such as mobile, laptops, wifi card
2. Software – Some popular choices include KisMAC, Aircrack, Cain & Able, CoWPAtty, iStumbler, InSSIDer, and WiFiphisher.
3. A GPS device, either from a smartphone or a standalone device
4. A wardriving software, that can bypass network security

Software for Wardriving Attacks

During wardriving operations, the use of specific software is crucial. Software such as WiFiphisher, Aircrack, or Cain & Able can swiftly detect vulnerable network security. It enables hackers to compile a list or map of these networks and even bypass certain Wi-Fi protections in real time.

Hardware for Wardriving

To utilize the aforementioned software, specific hardware is essential. Common examples are smartphones, tablets, and laptops. These devices are equipped with wardriving software and transported within a vehicle. In addition to the device itself, an additional antenna may be employed. While most mobile devices have built-in antennas for Wi-Fi signal reception, some wardrivers connect their devices to more powerful external antennas.

Legality of Wardriving

Cybercriminal activities are banned all over the world. Is Wardriving illegal? The short answer is no law exists regarding wardriving until now. In the future will be it illegal.

To date 2023, no laws explicitly prohibit individuals from collecting or gathering data from wireless networks or creating computer-generated maps. However, the act of wardriving, which involves exploiting insecure networks to access private information, can be illegal. It is important to note that wardriving is not always considered unethical. The data obtained through wardriving can be shared on certain resources or websites, which can then be used to develop digital maps of networks in a specific area.

4 Risks and Vulnerabilities of Wardriving Attacks

1. Data Breach

Data breach is one of the main problems that exist on the internet for users. Wardrivering scammers can access an unsecured Wi-Fi network and get control of it. To get access, they steal information like personal details, credit card data, identity, and financial data.

2. Legal liabilities

Unsecured Wi-Fi networks can be utilized by wardrivers for engaging in malicious activities. Which may involve hacking, spamming, or illegally acquiring copyrighted material. As a result, the owners or users of these networks can become trapped in these illegal activities, harm their reputation, or financial penalties imposed by regulatory bodies.

3. Increrae in Network bandwidth or Data consumption

Sometimes people access your wifi to get free internet. This can lead to affect your network performance and consume more data.

Wardrivers can consume the bandwidth of Wi-Fi and resource networks. That causes network congestion like performance errors or service interruptions. This can affect the quality and availability of the network.

4. Malware infection

Wardrivers can install malware through Wi-Fi networks on your devices. If the devices connected to them, such as viruses, worms, ransomware, or botnets are installed by the scammers.

This can compromise the security and functionality of the network or devices and cause data loss, encryption, or damage.

Protecting Against Wardriving and How to Prevent Wardriving Attacks

5 Tips to Protecting Against Wardriving Attacks

1. Use VPN

VPNs like NordVPN, Express VPN, and AtlasVPN improve their security from time to time. They provide network security solutions to the users. They provide various security tools to scan warring in your network.

Also, VPN encrypts your data so if hackers hack your system, they only receive encrypted data. It cannot be used because your data is in encrypted form.

2. USE WPA3-Personal Security

It is a security option to provide network security for your Wi-Fi network by encrypting by password. Your wifi password should by strong such as more than 14 words containing symbols, characters, and numbers.

3. Create guest mode for other

Strong passwords are hard to crack by software. If you want to make Wi-Fi only accessible to the public or other persons, like an office, create a guest network and separate it from networks.

4. Install Firewall

A firewall is a tool to monitor network activities and track them. The firewall comes with Avast, AVG also has capabilities to detect malicious network activities and block them before harm you.

Update security software whenever possible, and install security patches to your network if available.

5. Use 2FA multi-factor authentication.

Increase your Wi-Fi security by setting up multi-factor authentication in your router. Enabling MFA will allow anyone trying to connect to the network to go through two layers of security and make it much harder for hackers to quickly access a network.

Wardriving Attacks and Ethical Hacking

Ethical hacking is the use of hacking skills for good purposes, such as finding and reporting vulnerabilities in wireless networks to help fix them, conducting penetration testing or security audits for wireless networks, or educating wireless network owners and users about the best practices of Wi-Fi security. Wardriving Attacks can also be used for malicious purposes, such as stealing data, hacking systems, or launching attacks using Wi-Fi networks.

FAQ: Wardriving in cybersecurity