CMS Security Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide for WordPress®, Joomla!®, Drupal™, and Plone®

CHAPTER 10

Wireless Networks

Imagine a scene where you see a car parked near your office on a regular basis. The occupant appears to be still and not really doing much. However, you see this same car and person in or around the same spot daily. You note he has a can of potato chips sitting on his dash. “Odd,” you think, and go on about your day.

Soon, you are suddenly hacked out of nowhere. Your security is good, and you're up to date on patching and virus scanning. You even have a strong key on your wireless device.

You may have been a victim of a wireless hack via that can of potato chips. By using his laptop, some easily obtained software, and the potato chip can stuffed with an antenna in it, the bad guy maliciously gathered up your wireless router signals and was able to crack your Wi-Fi key.

The potato chip can (or some variation on the design) houses a powerful antenna. This device is known as a “cantenna,” popular with wardrivers (those who drive around in vehicles in search of wireless networks). The chip can itself provides what is known as a waveguide. It allows the attacker to have a highly directional device. He can literally point it at your general location and gather the signals. This do-it-yourself antenna increases the range of Wi-Fi by miles in some cases. Countless websites are devoted to designing a cantenna, and a commercially available product known as the Cantenna is even available.

The antenna inside is known as a Yagi antenna. The original design of this ...