WRT54g

[boone]

Is anyone using the WRT54g for wardriving?

I've got a working system which scans and logs all networks, and transmits it to my server where it's stored in MySQL.

If there's a lot of interest I could possibly prepare a ready to go firmware with a web interface for configuration. Load the firmware, stick the router on your dash, and go driving. Voila.

Anyone else doing something similiar?

[boone]

Oh, guess I missed an important fact with my previous post. GPS. Yes, you can attach a GPS to the router to log the locations.

You just need to solder a 10 pin header onto your WRT54g (yes, good bye warranty, but you won't hurt anything doing this,) then plug in the PCB/module and voila, GPS enabled.

[dakkon2k]

Is anyone using the WRT54g for wardriving?

I've got a working system which scans and logs all networks, and transmits it to my server where it's stored in MySQL.

If there's a lot of interest I could possibly prepare a ready to go firmware with a web interface for configuration. Load the firmware, stick the router on your dash, and go driving. Voila.

Anyone else doing something similiar?

MMMMM whats that saying?
Been there, done it, have the T-Shirt.
You are about a year late.

[boone]

Is anyone using the WRT54g for wardriving?

I've got a working system which scans and logs all networks, and transmits it to my server where it's stored in MySQL.

If there's a lot of interest I could possibly prepare a ready to go firmware with a web interface for configuration. Load the firmware, stick the router on your dash, and go driving. Voila.

Anyone else doing something similiar?

MMMMM whats that saying?
Been there, done it, have the T-Shirt.
You are about a year late.

Cool, I won't bother posting my code then.

Where's the link for yours?

[dakkon2k]

Cool, I won't bother posting my code then.

Where's the link for yours?

Google for it
Not my code,nor my site but I feel Render and Josh deserve some props for their work!
Render Labs WRT54g

[boone]

Cool, I won't bother posting my code then.

Where's the link for yours?

Google for it
Not my code,nor my site but I feel Render and Josh deserve some props for their work!
Render Labs WRT54g

Errmmm, near as I can tell, that's a totally different solution. Still requires a laptop to connect to the kismet drone.

Allow me to restate what I already said:

1) Scanning and logging software runs on the router
2) Router has it's own GPS
3) Router automatically logs networks it finds.

So.... if you're looking to use a router *in addition* to your laptop, check out the Kismet drone project dakkon2k posted, it's a great solution for what it is, highly recommended. However, if you'd like a solution that requires you to only take along the router, I may have something that will do what you want. Leave the router in your car to wardrive whenever you drive around to work or to grab groceries... don't have to think about it; don't need a laptop attached.

What I'm imagining is that you'd load the firmware on your router, attach the GPS, and go drive around. A bit of coding should make it so that any networks you stumble across are automatically logged in WiGLE.net (I just found WiGLE.net today, so no code has been written to do this last step, currently it just logs the networks into a MySQL database on an internet server; easy enough to export and upload to WiGLE.net)

[Dutch]

Cool, I won't bother posting my code then.

Where's the link for yours?

Google for it
Not my code,nor my site but I feel Render and Josh deserve some props for their work!
Render Labs WRT54g

Errmmm, near as I can tell, that's a totally different solution. Still requires a laptop to connect to the kismet drone.

Allow me to restate what I already said:

1) Scanning and logging software runs on the router
2) Router has it's own GPS
3) Router automatically logs networks it finds.

So.... if you're looking to use a router *in addition* to your laptop, check out the Kismet drone project dakkon2k posted, it's a great solution for what it is, highly recommended. However, if you'd like a solution that requires you to only take along the router, I may have something that will do what you want. Leave the router in your car to wardrive whenever you drive around to work or to grab groceries... don't have to think about it; don't need a laptop attached.

What I'm imagining is that you'd load the firmware on your router, attach the GPS, and go drive around. A bit of coding should make it so that any networks you stumble across are automatically logged in WiGLE.net (I just found WiGLE.net today, so no code has been written to do this last step, currently it just logs the networks into a MySQL database on an internet server; easy enough to export and upload to WiGLE.net)

Please elaborate on the emphazised portion. Do you mean that during the wardrive, your device connects to any unencrypted AP, and uploads to your server, or that it is done when you return home ?

Dutch

[littledave]

Cool, I won't bother posting my code then.

Where's the link for yours?

Google for it
Not my code,nor my site but I feel Render and Josh deserve some props for their work!
Render Labs WRT54g

Errmmm, near as I can tell, that's a totally different solution. Still requires a laptop to connect to the kismet drone.

Allow me to restate what I already said:

1) Scanning and logging software runs on the router
2) Router has it's own GPS
3) Router automatically logs networks it finds.

So.... if you're looking to use a router *in addition* to your laptop, check out the Kismet drone project dakkon2k posted, it's a great solution for what it is, highly recommended. However, if you'd like a solution that requires you to only take along the router, I may have something that will do what you want. Leave the router in your car to wardrive whenever you drive around to work or to grab groceries... don't have to think about it; don't need a laptop attached.

What I'm imagining is that you'd load the firmware on your router, attach the GPS, and go drive around. A bit of coding should make it so that any networks you stumble across are automatically logged in WiGLE.net (I just found WiGLE.net today, so no code has been written to do this last step, currently it just logs the networks into a MySQL database on an internet server; easy enough to export and upload to WiGLE.net)

I would like to know more. If it is on the drone only, how much can it hold? I have a drone ( thanks rederman, josh and goldndr )and have files over 9 megs( .gps only). So how is the drone going to take a long drive?

[boone]

Google for it
Not my code,nor my site but I feel Render and Josh deserve some props for their work!
Render Labs WRT54g

Errmmm, near as I can tell, that's a totally different solution. Still requires a laptop to connect to the kismet drone.

Allow me to restate what I already said:

1) Scanning and logging software runs on the router
2) Router has it's own GPS
3) Router automatically logs networks it finds.

So.... if you're looking to use a router *in addition* to your laptop, check out the Kismet drone project dakkon2k posted, it's a great solution for what it is, highly recommended. However, if you'd like a solution that requires you to only take along the router, I may have something that will do what you want. Leave the router in your car to wardrive whenever you drive around to work or to grab groceries... don't have to think about it; don't need a laptop attached.

What I'm imagining is that you'd load the firmware on your router, attach the GPS, and go drive around. A bit of coding should make it so that any networks you stumble across are automatically logged in WiGLE.net (I just found WiGLE.net today, so no code has been written to do this last step, currently it just logs the networks into a MySQL database on an internet server; easy enough to export and upload to WiGLE.net)

I would like to know more. If it is on the drone only, how much can it hold? I have a drone ( thanks rederman, josh and goldndr )and have files over 9 megs( .gps only). So how is the drone going to take a long drive?

The WRT54GL's have about 16 MB of RAM. So say you have about 5 MB of RAM free to use to store data. It depends on how much data you wish to log for each network, but you're probably looking at around 100 bytes per network. 5000000/100 = 50,000 networks it can log in memory in "back of the napkin" math.

And like dakkon2k implied, you could configure it to only connect and upload on your "home network" or have it connect to public hotspots and transmit as you drive past.

[Dutch]

And like dakkon2k implied, you could configure it to only connect and upload on your "home network" or have it connect to public hotspots and transmit as you drive past.

So how are you doing it now ? Uploading on the fly to your Internet MySQL server, or doing it when you get home ?

Dutch

[boone]

And like dakkon2k implied, you could configure it to only connect and upload on your "home network" or have it connect to public hotspots and transmit as you drive past.

So how are you doing it now ? Uploading on the fly to your Internet MySQL server, or doing it when you get home ?

Dutch

I've done it both ways, either works. Easy enough to have it connect only to a list of particular AP's, or have it attempt to connect to any public hotspots. Either way, I don't have to do anything in particular to upload, it connects automatically and fires off the data whenever it has an active connection. I've found that even at 120km/h, there's often enough time to connect, request an IP via DHCP and send off data before the network is out of range.

Obviously it makes more sense to not be making connections while you're scanning for the best results.

[Dutch]

I've done it both ways, either works. Easy enough to have it connect only to a list of particular AP's, or have it attempt to connect to any public hotspots. Either way, I don't have to do anything in particular to upload, it connects automatically and fires off the data whenever it has an active connection. I've found that even at 120km/h, there's often enough time to connect, request an IP via DHCP and send off data before the network is out of range.

Obviously it makes more sense to not be making connections while you're scanning for the best results.

How do you programmatically determine that it's a public hotspot ? Or do you mean that you connect to whatever unencrypted AP that it sees ?

Dutch

[boone]

I've done it both ways, either works. Easy enough to have it connect only to a list of particular AP's, or have it attempt to connect to any public hotspots. Either way, I don't have to do anything in particular to upload, it connects automatically and fires off the data whenever it has an active connection. I've found that even at 120km/h, there's often enough time to connect, request an IP via DHCP and send off data before the network is out of range.

Obviously it makes more sense to not be making connections while you're scanning for the best results.

How do you programmatically determine that it's a public hotspot ? Or do you mean that you connect to whatever unencrypted AP that it sees ?

Dutch

I know what you're getting at here. Yes, there is no way to determine if an unencrypted AP is in fact a public hotspot or a misconfigured router in Joe Blow's home. So yes, you may now label me a criminal should you wish, since I've connected to these and used their network.

However, I'm not ignorant of the issues here. I hope we can continue this discussion flame-free. Please at least read through my complete post before replying.

There is no perfect way for the router to determine if an AP is meant for public use and no way to ask a human. The best it can do is attempt to connect, request an IP via DHCP, and if that all succeeds, we can assume that we've been granted permission to use the network. Any network not meant for public use typically will have enabled some type of encryption or MAC filters on the wireless level, or deny an IP via DHCP. No attempt is made to circumvent these simple to implent doors.

No doubt this will not satisfy most people here, and I can understand. The average Joe who bought a router and plugged it in without bothering to read the directions will have his connection unwittingly used. I could argue "not my problem" but I agree some more thought needs to be put into it.

First, any such device needs to make sure it plays nice and does not abuse any internet connections. The amount of data sent is typically a few kilobytes and will in no way negatively affect their connection. Should there be a lot of data in the queue waiting to be sent, limits need to be in place both for the rate at which data is sent and the total amount. A few kilobytes is miniscule in this day and age is much less than even just loading a single average web page.

Secondly, there are some basic things we can do to help avoid using an AP not intended for public use. I think that if the SSID and channel match the defaults for a router, we should not connect to it. In this case it was probably plugged in out of the box without a second thought and we'll play nice and leave it alone.

I think this is fair, we've done the best we can to avoid the wardriving box from connecting to the networks not intended to be used by the public. If and when we do connect, we do our utmost to minimize what we use and ensure that no harm is done.

The fact is, there *are* many networks that are intentionally left open for anyone to use (mine at home are intentionally left open, I've got no problem with somebody wanting to park for a second and check their email, lookup a phone number or grab driving directions from Google Local, for example.) However, there is no standard way that I know of for an AP to indicate that you may or may not connect to it, short of encryption, MAC filters, etc. By taking the extra step to avoid connecting to the unboxed-plugged-in-and-never-thought-of-again routers, we've done the best we can.

[itsnotme]

Here's my 2 cents, this has been argued on the netstumbler forums. I don't have a problem with the WRT in the car, I think it's a great idea. I saw your article on how to add a GPS, and I thought it was nicely done.

If I were you, to save your ass from possible lawsuits, I would program in APs for it to connect to. And by that, I mean >SPECIFIC< aps, such as paysites like t-mobile, since you are already paying for that connection so there should not be a problem connecting to those. Other business AP's are really used for when you're IN the business itself.

My policy is, when in doubt, don't.

(You can get a T-mobile account where you pay by the minute, and since you'd be driving around, your minute usage would be very low so you wouldn't be paying that much, but you'd be paying for peace of mind in knowing you're using APs that you're allowed to be using.)

[Tech^CF]

PM'ed you for you code. Bidding on a WRT54G now, and have asked some online dealers for the parts needed. Hoping to have a self contained wardriving box in the trunk to get rid of this laptop / pda phone mess. Lots of trouble and time gets lost connecting and disconnecting.

Anyways I'm following the tutorial here:
http://www.frontiernet.net/~beakmyn/Ope ... Server.htm