Nearly everyone who has an internet connection now has a WiFi Coverage in his house , but how safe are these wireless networks ? Well , there are many types of WiFi networks , some are very easy to be pentrated and "Password Cracked" and others will take years to crack this passwords. If you're interested to know more about WiFi networks and how to crack them , keep reading
Before we start doing anything , Let's have a quick look on WIFI networks and their types.
1) Open WiFi Networks:
These networks have no password and it allows access to absolutely everyone. Anyone who is just near enough to receive your WiFi signal will be able to access your network and gain internet connectivity from it. Such networks are not usually found in home networks but rather in public places ; Airport , Cafe , ...etc.
2) WEP Secured WiFi networks:
WEP is the very basic way f encryption in WiFi networks and they are ease - relatively - to be cracked. It does well only if you don't have someone who's interested in Pen-Testing near your home. If you want to know more about WEP and how it works , go on and see this link :
Wikipedia ( WEP )
3) WPA/WPA2 Secured Networks:
This type of WiFi networks are more safier than the earlier ones (WEP). It's a difficult to crack the passwords of those networks because they are cracked using a technique called "Bruteforcing" which is trying every combination that could be done using a set of letters you specify. This way may take YEARS o even LIGHT YEARS to finish cracking if you have a good Pasword. I'll exlplain later what king of password should you use to avoid being hacked.
More information about WPA/WPA2 here :
Wikipedia ( WPA / WPA2 )
Enough Theortical work now , let's move to the practical work. For this Tutorial you'll need :
1- Backtrack OS ( Preferably the latest version ) , You can get it from here :
Download Backtrack
2- A Wireless network Adapter ( You need a USB one if you're using backtrack on VMWare )
3- A Working PC or Laptop ( But you should make sure you have a DVD Rom , Else you'll need to run BT from a USB and that's another issue )
- Now boot you Backtrack Live CD.
- Start a New terminal
