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Wardriving has nothing to do with war. Wardriving is the practice of driving around and detecting wireless access points. In addition to detecting wireless access points, people also often try to access them to use the Internet and to use or copy resources from the computer networks. That's called Leaching and is different from Wardriving. You can also access some wireless networks for free legally, such as Internet cafes. Other networks can be publicly accessed, but you have to pay for the access. There is one free wireless network in my town which I occasionally access.

Legalities and ethics.

Leaching Internet access from some one without their permission is stealing, and thus a crime. I've heard a lot of people try to justify Leaching by saying something like "well it is unlocked, it is their fault if they leave it unlocked for people to use. What I do is harmless". That does not cut it. Do you leave your car fuel cap unlocked? Most people do. How would you like it if some one came and siphoned fuel out of your car? Not happy. It is the same deal. By using some one's wireless network without their permission you are taking something they have paid for.

It is better ethically and legally to locate free and legal access points, or to pay for legal access. Just like your fuel is your life line when you car live, Internet can be some one's life line as well. Don't abuse it. Besides, you can get free Internet access at most public libraries.

How to wardrive - a basic guide for beginners.

Firstly I should say that accessing wireless networks is usually not cheap unless you have a computer with wireless networking built in or you have the necessary equipment. My computer did not come with a Wifi adapter so I ended up buying two. The equipment I brought cost about $450 all up. More expensive than a land line. The first is a Trendnet TEW-429UB Wifi hotspot detector and 802.11 adapter You can read more about it on the mobile computing page.

The tiny Trendnet Wifi detector and antenna.

This guide is very basic. It is written for absolute beginners at Wifi. You can find more complex guides on the Internet. This guide presumes no advanced preexisting knowledge of Wifi or Wireless Network access. The guide is written for Windows software. It does presume that you know how to download and install files from the Internet. I recommend you look up 'Wifi', 'wardriving' or '802.11' on Google and Wikipedia to find out more about how it all works.

Step 1

First, install your drivers that came with your Wifi detector device and get that up and running. Follow the instructions that came with the device to install it.

Step 2

Once the device is running, get on to Google and download a piece of software for recording wireless access points. I use Netstumbler, because it is easy to use, easy to configure and is probably the best software available for recording wireless access when wardriving.

Step 3.

After having installed your Wifi adapter and Netstumbler, plug in the Wifi adapter

The TrendNet Wifi detector plugged into a USB extension cable. This allows me to orientate it best to detect wireless networks.

Step 4.

Next start up network stumbler to see if you have any networks detectable at your location.

Here is a screen shot showing Netstumbler having detected a single network with a weak signal.

To get a graph showing the signal strength, click on the plus symbol next to SSIDs then the wireless access points.

You are now set to access wireless access points if you can detect any, and if they are unsecured. If you are paying to access a point or have permission to access a free point like a cafe or hot spot then this is about all you need to do. You should be able to open your Internet browser, enter a password on an access page if there is one and surf the web. If accessing a web cafe etc they should have further advice on how to access their wireless network.

Connecting a Garmin GPS receiver to allow you to map wireless access points.

If you are wardriving, that is mapping wireless access points, you will need a Global Positions System receiver (GPS) to detect where you are. I use a Garmin Etrex-Legend. This tutorial should work for almost all Garmin E-Trex GPS receivers.

Step 1.

First you may need to purchase a USB to serial adapter if you don't own one. I brought a Gold-X adapter simply because it was the cheapest I could buy. I still think all USB to serial port adapters are really over priced. If you do end up buying a Gold-X USB to serial port adapter you will need a driver for it. This zip file contains the driver. To Install the driver, download it first, then simply plug in your USB to serial adapter Windows should detect it and run the install wizard. When you are prompted to insert a disk, you may need to supply the file ser2pl.sys. Ser2pl.sys can be obtained here for Windows XP only. Right click on the link, save the file and then when installing, use the browse button to access the file. Once the driver for the serial port adapter is installed you may have to restart your computer.

Step 2.

In the GPS receiver, go to settings, then Interface then set the Serial Data Format to NMEA in / NMEA out. Set the Baud rate to 4800. Do NOT set the baud rate higher as Netstumbler only supports the 4800 rate. Once these settings have been set, switch off the GPS receiver

Step 3.

Once the serial port driver is installed, plug the adapter in again if it needs it.

Serial port adapter plugged in.

Step 4.

Next plug in the Garmin GPS adapter cable to the serial port adapter

Garmin cable plugged in to the USB adapter Note the groove to ensure it will only plug into the GPS receiver one way.

Step 5.

Next make sure the GPS receiver is switched off. Lift the flap at the back to reveal the data port.

Note the data port at the back of this Garmin E-Trex

Step 6.

With the GPS still off, plug the data port in.

The Garmin plugged into the data cable.

Step 7.

Start Netstumbler and from the view menu, select options.

Select options from the view menu.

Step 8.

Select the GPS tab and set the following options:

Netstumbler communications settings for a Garmin GPS unit.

Step 9.

Go to your GPS and switch it on. At this point if a new device Microsoft Mouse is detected, unplug the Serial port adapter straight away without delay. Some times Windows will think the combination of the USB adapter and the GPS receiver is a mouse. :(

Step 10.

Netstumbler should show your GPS position near the bottom right corner. If it still reports port unavailable or GPS timed out, repeat steps 7 and 8 above. You may not have to choose all the options again if they are selected, just click on OK on the GPS settings.

Netstumbler showing GPS settings are detected.

You are now ready to start driving around detecting WIFI 802.11 wireless networks. For safety reasons it is best to have a second person monitor the laptop as you drive or visa versa. It is very important to concentrate on your driving.

Converting your Netstumbler logs to maps.

As you drive around mapping Internet access points, Netstumbler produces logs of any access points it detects. These logs do record the GPS location of where each access point is, but unless you are good with a GPS and maps, it will be hard to record on to a map the location of the Wifi points. I can really recommend a web site called GPS Visuliser for turning your logs in to maps. It is simple. You just upload your Netstumbler logs, set a few parameters and then choose an output and hey presto, a map.

A map produced from my Netstumbler log on GPS Visuliser