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wardriving

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wardriving

(security)
(From wardialer in the "carrier scanner" sense of that word) To drive around with a laptop with a wireless card, and an antenna, looking for accessible wireless networks.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

war driving

Driving around an area with a laptop computer and an 802.11 wireless LAN adapter in order to find unsecured wireless LANs. When the laptop's wireless adapter (NIC) is set to promiscuous mode, it will receive any packets within its range. The goal is to find vulnerable sites either to obtain free Internet service or to potentially gain illegal access to the organization's data. See 802.11, Wi-Fi hotspot and war chalking.
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References in periodicals archive
Wardriving is another high-tech identity theft technique.
Meru Networks claims the RF Barrier is the first solution to offer protection of this type and also that 'wardriving' or 'parking lot' attacks have resulted in a number of successful thefts of data from exposed networks.
In 2004, a Michigan man was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in an unsuccessful attempt to steal credit card numbers from the Lowe's chain of home improvement stores by taking advantage of an unsecured Wi-Fi network at a store in suburban Detroit using the wardriving technique.
'Wardriving in London: 2007' includes data which can be compared to data gathered in the same location a year ago.
Paris, France, is the city with the best protected Wi-Fi networks according to 'Wardriving in Paris', a new report published by Kaspersky Lab, an Internet security company.
It's called wardriving, and any techie worth his weight in 1s and 0s can tell you about it.
Aimed at law enforcement executives and managers, the CD explains the basics of systems security and defines a host of technical terms from wardriving to sniffing that nontechnical personnel can understand.
The international crew used wardriving techniques to allegedly hack into the wireless networks of TJX, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21, and DSW.
Over the years there have been such fads as 'wardialling' (when hackers would ring many phone numbers to see which ones answered with a data, rather than a dial, tone) and 'wardriving' (travelling around in a car until the laptop picks up a certain network.
In the early days of WiFi, something called "wardriving" became a favorite pastime of those looking for accessible network hot spots.
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