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Basically, war driving occurs when a person, or persons', drives around in a vehicle purposely searching for an open, unprotected wireless access point, using a wireless device, such as a laptop or PDA. Once found, the war driver can gain access to the “victims” Internet access or data.

What is the point of war driving?

Is it simply to see how many unprotected connections are in your area or neighborhood, or to actually gain access to someone’s connection to perhaps surf the net for free? Or are there other intentions?

I asked Mike from Typer Tappers, to explain a few of the issues and concerns regarding war driving.

”War driving”, according to Mike, “is when someone drives around in their vehicle, looking for wireless connections, normally unsecured. Once a connection is found, access into your network is gained; the war drivers will then use it to their own advantage, usually for their own profit. Once unsecured access is gained, the war drivers begin to “sniff” your traffic passing through your wireless connection. This could mean that everything you’re doing might be being logged on their computer in their car”

If, for example, you are shopping online at Amazon, the war driver may be logging things like pages you visit, as well as your login and password details. It is possible to do things like change your delivery address.

Although Mike has not had any personal experience with war driving, he knows someone who has. ”Someone I know used a wireless network in a flat, using WEP encryption. Someone took advantage of the awful security issues, and then used their details to take a loan out in that persons name. I’m not sure how it ended, but hopefully, he wont have to pay that bill”

When I asked Mike if he had personally witnessed war driving done, he said , “Yes, you can find videos over the Internet on war driving”

What is an access point?
“An access point is a wireless router. If you think about the word “access
point”, it’s where your wireless laptop or desktop computer is accessing.

What are some of the consequences of war-driving, if you are a victim?
“The main one would be identity theft. Once they have information on you,
they can do things like take loans out in your name, leaving you with the
bills. Another example may be if you do your banking online, you may find someone
has stolen your login details. They could then mess around with your bank
account and steal your money.”

How do you know, if you are a victim of war-driving?
“Well the main way would be you have no money in your bank or you have
suddenly found loans being taken out in your name.”

If you are a victim, what can you do?
“If you’ve had money taken out of your bank account or bills posted to your credit card, notify the bank or credit card company as soon as possible. Then consult your local police.”

What can you do to prevent this happening to you?

Mike suggests changing your access point name information; don’t keep the original/default name. Mike also has recommendations for software to help keep your wireless connection safe and secure, such as Putty. Others suggest using a variety of safety measures; and not to rely solely on one particular method.

Software for war driving is available online. There are also websites available with data collected by war drivers, to view actual maps of wireless access points in your town.

Mike lives in England, is a freelance Web designer and studies computer repair in College. He has an interest in Internet Security and has been blogging since October 2006, and his targeted audience is the computer world. Please visit him at his website, Typer Tappers:

http://www.typertappers.com