WI-Fi Connections

[Jeva]

Many of us use wi-fi booster antennas to connect to bars and restaurants whilst at anchor in a bay or port. Most bars are happy to give you their access code if you pop in and ask - normally at the cost of a beer or two.
Now for the tricky question - Has anybody used one of the wi-fi hacker programs available on the net to crack the password codes?

 

[duncan99210]

No.

 

[rustybarge]

No.

Its a criminal offence.....

 

[chrisb]

Illegal here but I have met people who use them successfully . A problem with some is reported to be that like most things they originate from China and the instructions are not in English . In many areas open access sites are quite common when one has a powerful antenna

 

[Tony Cross]

Many of us use wi-fi booster antennas to connect to bars and restaurants whilst at anchor in a bay or port. Most bars are happy to give you their access code if you pop in and ask - normally at the cost of a beer or two.
Now for the tricky question - Has anybody used one of the wi-fi hacker programs available on the net to crack the password codes?

No. Nor would I. As you say, a couple of cups of coffee is a small price to pay to get connected.

 

[SamanthaTabs]

Many of us use wi-fi booster antennas to connect to bars and restaurants whilst at anchor in a bay or port. Most bars are happy to give you their access code if you pop in and ask - normally at the cost of a beer or two.
Now for the tricky question - Has anybody used one of the wi-fi hacker programs available on the net to crack the password codes?

Wow, no! "Many" of us have an unlocked dongle or similar and, believe it or not, buy a local chip then charge that for Internet usage.

 

[LadyInBed]

Not used a hacker but do use a wifi analyser to see what is around at what strength.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

In any case, the success rate will depend entirely on the type of encryption being used. WEP is pretty weak, and no-one with any interest in security uses it any more; you might was well use "HackMe" as your SSID! But WPA and WPA2 are much stronger encryption, and I'd be surprised if the higher, industrial levels of encryption can be broken by off the shelf equipment. And those that require a separate log-in via a browser will probably not be easy to crack either.

You don't need a network analyzer; inSSIDer (http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/) does an excellent job and will run on most lap-tops running Windows or Mac.

Sorry - that used to be free, but it looks as if it now is paid for. Maybe older versions are still around.

You can get a limited version as an app on an Android phone!

 

[DaveRo]

In any case, the success rate will depend entirely on the type of encryption being used. WEP is pretty weak, and no-one with any interest in security uses it any more; you might was well use "HackMe" as your SSID! But WPA and WPA2 are much stronger encryption, and I'd be surprised if the higher, industrial levels of encryption can be broken by off the shelf equipment....

WPS is crackable. Not common in Greek tavernas yet, I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Protected_Setup