Cracking my own network

[purecomedy]

Can anyone recommend some good Windows programs for attempting to crack the encryption on my wireless network? I want to see if it's as pathetically easy as people say. I want to try both WEP and WPA.

From my experience so far, getting the software to do it is not that easy.
1. It's just source code, not a compiled installer most of the time from what I see.
2. Most stuff is very Linux centric with no Windows version or a Windows version available that just doesn't work.

I've come across a few such as Kismet and Airsnort but the Linux and just source code availability is pissing me off.

I don't really want to install a C++ compiler just to compile source code. Why can't these guys just put out an install package like you get for every piece of software out there.

Let me know if you have other programs in mind that I could try.

[greEd]

Why can't these guys just put out an install package like you get for every piece of software out there.


Sure, make it so every 10 year old can point and click his/her way into your network.

[TonyT]

Well, the reason there's no affordable Windows version of wifi cracking software is because to do so requires that your wifi adapter be put into what's called rfmon (monitor) mode. Adapter chipsets have the capability of being put into different "modes".

Managed mode is the mode used by an adapter to connect to an access point. This is the Windows default mode. An access point has its own wifi adapter. This adapter is using ap mode. Modes are changed by accessing pre-programmed functions in the adapter'd driver software or driver firmware, or by direct access to firmware code burned onto the chipset.

Windows wifi drivers only support managed mode or adhoc mode. This is due to the Windows op sys itself. There are 3rd party drivers made by vendors of network software utils that do support monitor mode in windows, but they are limited to a few different chipsets, mostly Atheros chipsets.

Linux drivers on the other hand will support all possible modes that the chipset itself supports. That's why cracking utils are unix based and then sometimes ported to windows platforms. Aircrack-ng has a windows version, but it has limited functionality, as do ALL windows wifi cracking applications.
http://www.aircrack-ng.org/doku.php

Test your wlan security using a live linux cd such as Backtrack2:
http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack.html

I run Debian and XP on my laptop. If your wlan uses any form of WEP I could discover your WEP key in about 2-5 minutes. WPA would take a lot longer, but could be had quickly if the passkey was a word in a dictionary.

[purecomedy]

Interesting, thanks guys.

It looks like Knoppix Linux has kismet on there, I'll just be damned if it was immediately obvious what options/parameters are required.

[TonyT]

http://www.kismetwireless.net/documentation.shtml
There are no shortcuts to learning the command line options, same with windows command line utils.