Also known as wardriving.

I decided today to take a small drive around town and do a little experiment.

I used my laptop wireless sitting on my console, along with a GPS unit, and to my surprise, more people actually know how to use the security features of their wireless routers, than those who dont.

simply put
Red = Locked
Green = Free Wireless.
Be sure to lock your networks.

 

Before aircards provided by cell companies if I needed Internet access and was away from home I just pulled into a neighborhood.

The better part about those open networks, usually the user name and password for administration is default, you can login to their router/WAP and secure it for them

 

yes, but then they'll wonder why they can't connect to the net..
I'll agree the 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.1.1 are the most common addies for most routers out there. with the default passwords they have, its quite simple to 'fix' their problems.

and sometimes if they've got any type of 'fileshare' on their PC you could access that as well
(I dont for ethical reasons), however, I'm wondering what they'd say if I knocked on their door saying they have an unsecure wireless network.

securing the router to WEP usually requires making a key.- in which they wouldnt have then.

 

Yes, I get on my neighbors internet sometimes just because it seems faster. I thought about locking them out, but then they'd probably unplug the router and then my fun would be over. Most the wireless networks right by my place are locked up but there are typically two that are not. I use them sometimes even though I have my own internet. LOL.

 

that feature is only good in cases of Consumer Choice Enhancement.

 

At the moment I can see three wireless networks within range...ours is locked and the two others are open. At my parents store before I had the network put in place I often accessed the open BestBuy network across the street and used their internet...

 

i know guilty of this (mainly cause i am not that concerned about some breaking into our router) but i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those only had a WEP key which can hacked in a matter of minutes.

 

or they just use the default preprogrammed WEPkeys (1-4)

my WEP is encoded with a long enough obsure password so it'll take someone awhile.

 

I know, that was my point. Teach em a lesson

 

You might want to be careful on getting on someone elses internet. Some guy during his lunch break went to a coffee shop to check his email and got turned in. There is actually a law where it says soemthing about using someone else internet.