Wigle Wifi Wardriving

Wigle Wifi Wardriving

Is slightly different to the other tools I have reviewed, it is an open-source wardriving app to netstumble, display and map found wireless networks and cell towers anywhere in the world, easily uploading to the wigle net database. According the website WiGLE was started in 2001 and now has over 59 million wifi networks worldwide.

The list screen shows the detected WiFi networks, giving details of the MAC address and encryption if any.

The map screen plots the found WiFi networks on a map

The run screen gives details of the current war drive

The Data screen allows the conversion and export of data, including the uploading to the Wigle net database

The setting screen allows configuration of the Wigle account and the wardrive

From within the list screen if you click on a network it is displayed on the map along with details of the network and when first seen.

There are a number of option available for most of the screens

Wireless Attack Tree

Wireless Attack Tree

As part of the my research project I'm trying to develop an attack tree for domestic WiFi, the latest version is displayed here.

Wi-Fi Analytics Tool

The Wi-Fi Analytics Tool by amped wireless is another of the tool I have used for investigating WiFi networking it is currently at version 3.2.1

WiFi Scanner shows the currently available networks, touching a channel allows you to connect to it.

Channel interference screen shows how congested the available channels are, the longer the bar the more congested the channel is, it also recommends a list of channels.

Channel Graph shows the signal strength on each of the channels

Signal Graph screen shows the signal strength over a period of time.

Signal Strength signal meter shows the strength of the currently selected channel

Signal Strength Widget allows you to configure a widget for use on the android display.

WiFi sniffing & Patents

As a research student looking at Wireless networking I am always keen to follow up stories about the legality of war driving and other activities.

Today I came across this article http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=is-wi-fi-sniffing-a-crime-12-09-13 on the Scientific American about the legality of actual sniffing data as opposed to my definition of war driving which involves locating wireless access points and the parameters of the 802.11 network traffic ie encrypted or not.

The article says a judge (in Illinois) ruled that Innovatio IP Ventures capturing wireless traffic in order to ascertain whether their patents had been infringed was legal.

This is certainly an interesting decision and I do wonder if Google might not try claiming they were trying to protect patents in future cases. Digs at Google aside the concerns of individuals rights to privacy and about what will happen to the collected do appear to be taken into account by the Judge as the company have to issue protocols about the collection of the data.

"Innovatio sought permission to obtain a preliminary ruling on the admissibility of the information that it gains in the sniffing process. (Dkt. No. 290.) The court granted permission to Innovatio to seek an admissibility ruling (Dkt. No. 323), but expressed some concern that Innovatio's sniffing may implicate the privacy interests of the customers using the Wi-Fi networks under the federal Wiretap Act. 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2522. Accordingly, the court ordered Innovatio's motion to describe its proposed sniffing protocol in detail and to address the applicability of the Wiretap Act. Innovatio has submitted a proposed protocol under seal (Dkt. No. 329, Ex. A), and now requests that the court approve that protocol and issue a preliminary ruling on the admissibility of any evidence Innovatio may gather through the use of that protocol."

The conclusion of the judgement says that " the evidence Innovatio collects through the use of that protocol will not be inadmissible because of a violation of those Acts. Accordingly, if Innovatio lays a proper foundation under the Federal Rules of Evidence at trial for the information it collects through the sniffing protocol, that evidence will be admissible." this I understand as at the moment it is not legal to sniff wireless data to gather evidence of patent infringement as it is not currently admissible.

French prosecution over insecure WiFi?

I have been following the conviction of a Frenchman over downloading two Rihanna music tracks http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19597429, and I came across this article from PC World http://www.pcworld.com/article/262313/french_piracy_law_claims_first_innocent_victim.html that in the article claimed he was convicted for an insecure WiFi network.

In the article it states "Though his wife admitted, in court, to illegally downloading two Rihanna songs, Alain Prevost was still fined for failing to secure his Wi-Fi network." however it does not follow up on what this meant.

The article goes on to say he was convicted under a French anti-piracy law known as HADOPI (Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des œuvres et la protection des droits sur internet), not a law dealing with WiFi networks.

It would of been interesting to know whether the WiFi was insecure?, did his wife/ex-wifi illegal connect to his wifi? Did he not change the encryption key after separating?  

Does lead to the through what happens when partners seperate and they have been using WiFi, the encryption key should be changed to prevent the ex-partner from reconnecting and downloading illegal material as revenge.

WiFi Analyser

The WiFi Analyser App is another of my favourites for investigating WiFi networking it is currently at version 3.2.1 and is being Kevin Yuan.

The First screen is the channel graph and this is switch able between 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels, it shows the signal strength and the overlap with adjacent channels.


Example of 5GHz channels, toggling between the frequency bands is doing by selecting the band in the top left hand corner of the plot. The frequency band is shown for a short period before disappearing.


The signal meter shows the strength of the currently selected channel, touching the network name allows the selection of the network.


The AP List (Networks) shows the currently available networks, if the network is part of an extended network SSID, it is possible to expand and see all the access points that are visible to the ESS.



The Channel rating (Congestion) screen shows how congested the available channels are, the more stars the less congested the channel frequency is.


The Time graph shows the signal strength over a period of time, selecting the channel in the list at the top of the screen highlights the area under the signal.


At the moment only the channel graph provides an easy method of switching between bands, there are options in the settings to select channels for the channel rating screen.

inSSIDer review

The inSSIDer app is one of my favourite wireless research tools from MetaGeek whose range of products I use often in my Wireless research.
The entry splash screen gives details of the MetaGeek product range and news

The channels screen gives details of both the 2.4 & 5GHz channel congestion, a green bar shows that there are no or a few channels on the same frequency, a short red bar indicates a very congested frequency

The network screen gives details of the channel, this covers the channel, encryption details and signal strength, touching the channel causes more details to be displayed including MAC address, a long touch causes the channel to be selected for optimization, this can be cancelled from the additional info screen

The 2.4GHz displays shows the networks operating in this frequency range and the overlap with adjacent channels, the height of the graph shows the strength of the signal

The 5GHz channel displays the networks in the higher frequency band in the same manner as the 2.4GHz screen

The product gives a good information about the WiFi usage of the RF environment and it clearly shows congestion and channel overlap, which is important when looking at network problems in the crowded 2.4GHz band.