WarDriving: Drive, Detect, Defend: A Guide to Wireless Security 1st Edition

Great book

I purchased this book based on the recommendation from a friend in my DC Group. This book was exactly what I was looking for. I have been trying to find a book that had enough technical information that I wasn't bored, but that presented it in an easy to read, step by step manner. WarDriving delivered.The book begins by giving a pretty cool history of WarDriving and then moves into two chapters on NetStumbler. I skipped these since I knew how to use NetStumbler and won't comment on them.The next two chapters were a goldmine. Particularly Chapter 5. These two chapters walk you through setup of Kismet on Slackware and Fedora Linux. I don't use Slackware, so I skimmed this chapter, but the Fedora chapter was exactly what I needed. The instructions for installing Kismet on Fedora were worth the purchase price all by itself.The next chapter details how to actually configure and use Kismet. This chapter was perfect. In less than an hour I was running Kismet and detecting access points all over my neighborhood.Chapter 7 was about mapping. I don't have a GPS yet so I skipped most of this one too.Chapter 8 was a really interesting history of organized WarDriving. I had never even heard of a Worldwide WarDrive, but I am definitely going to do it next time. It sounds awesome.Chapter 9 was about attacking networks. I had no idea it was so easy to do. This really scared me, but Chapter 10 told me how to configure my home wireless network to protect against a lot of these attacks.I skimmed chapter 11 since it was more geared toward businesses so I will not comment on it either.This book delivered for me, and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to eather learn to WarDrive or secure their home network.

Ok, I will admit it...I am a "button down" kind of guy. I manage my company's wireless network and I have one in my house as well. I have never gone WarDriving and I probably never will. I have read articles about it in newspapers, magazines, etc. and formed an opinion that these people were all voyeurs at best and criminals at worst. When I saw this book, I thought it was important to read it to find out where my wireless network might be vulnerable. Before reading it, I was pre-disposed to then post a review affirming my initial opinion that anyone wardriving is up to no good. Ok, I will admit this as well....I WAS WRONG. The authors provide incredibly detailed information on how to wardrive, but more importantly go to great thanks to explain how to do it legally. They explain what is right and what is wrong. And, for the most part I agree with their explanations. According to their bios, several of the authors have military and/or law efnorcement backgrounds and one of them was in the NSA,so I'm guessing they know what their talking about when it comes to the legal issues involved. There are also chatpers at the end that provide great information on how so secure your wireless network to make sure that no one with good or bad intentions can access it at all. All in all, this book provides a very thorough treatment to the technical, legal, and honestly ethical issues surrounding Wardriving and wireless security. Well Done!

If you are looking for something to help you break into other peoples wireless networks, look somewhere else. This is the first book I have read about wireless security that doesn't fall into the trap of trying to scare people. Instead, the authors methodically show you how to secure your wireless network. The authors also present a wealth of information on the tools used by the true Wardriver. If you are not a linux guru but want to use Kismet, this book is for you. If you want to learn to use the latest version of Netstumbler, it's in there. Plus, the history of organized Wardriving chapter is one of the coolest I have ever read. If these things are important to you, buy this book. It's great.

The short review of this book is that if you're interested enough in the subject to buy this book, then you're unlikely to find anything - and I mean ANYTHING - new in this book.It takes two seperate chapters: one on installing the Windows utility Netstumbler (with pages and pages of screen shots, when a simple "click on the icon" would do), and one on using - not "advanced options" or anything, just using - Netstumbler. Similarly, three whole chapters are dedicated to the excruciating details of installation and use of the Linux tool Kismet, but again, nothing which couldn't be found in the README files or on the website which hosts the utility. They have a chapter on how to convert Kismet and Netstumbler logfiles to maps: if you already know about Stumbverter, WiGLE, and DiGLE (or can use Google), there's nothing new here. The authors pine on for a chapter about the wardrives that they've organized. If you've ever listened to your grandparents talk about the war, it's a lot like that. Then, they have a chapter on WiFi "attacks" - if you know how to manually set your SSID and MAC, and if you've ever even heard of Airsnort, you probably won't need this nontechnical, sub-script-kiddie, Windows screen-shot-laden chapter.If you're interested in war driving, or if you're interested in Wi-Fi security, then you're probably already conversant with the tools covered in this book. There is no real technical depth, as this book is written to a "manager's level" of technical competence. ("Click OK to continue.") Their chapter on Wi-Fi network defense essentially boils down to "change default SSID" and "use WEP"; there's a couple of pages on VPN, firewalls, and using authentication, but again, nothing to justify the purchase price of this book.

I cannot understand why people are being so disingenuous about a 19-year-old book. Chris Hurley, passed away in 2023 so he can’t respond. I bought this book second hand using the amazon used section. If you have no idea about wardriving and what’s behind it and want to learn. Then this is more than worth it. Of course, it is out of date and things move on. But the basics are there to discover in this book. Look for a used one here on Amazon and broaden your mind. If you can do better, write a new book.