He brought along a laptop loaded with a wireless Ethernet card and NetStumbler, a shareware sniffer for wireless networks. Once NetStumbler detects an 802.11 connection, it logs the MAC address of the access point along with the network name, SSID, manufacturer and various data about the signal. The software also logs whether WEP is enabled, though it doesn't attempt to crack WEP-encoded packets.. . .
He brought along a laptop loaded with a wireless Ethernet card and NetStumbler, a shareware sniffer for wireless networks. Once NetStumbler detects an 802.11 connection, it logs the MAC address of the access point along with the network name, SSID, manufacturer and various data about the signal. The software also logs whether WEP is enabled, though it doesn't attempt to crack WEP-encoded packets. Unlike some war driving expeditions, Foster didn't bring an external gain antenna or a parabolic dish to pick up transmissions. As I later found out, he didn't need to.

It was raining cats and dogs as we cruised down the 128 corridor, and we didn't pick up much initially. Zipping past companies like BMC Software, Symantec, Sprint PCS and Terra Lycos, I fully expected NetStumbler to go bananas--but, alas, the rain did us in.

Finally, as we headed east on the Mass Turnpike toward Cambridge, Mother Nature began to cooperate. As the skies cleared, NetStumbler started snagging dozens of WLAN connections, one after the other. Some of the captured traffic came from personal or home networks, but the bulk of it connected directly to the "soft gooey insides" of Greater Boston businesses. I promised Foster I wouldn't name names, but suffice it to say we're talking about some of the largest and most visible companies and universities in the world. Get a map and use your imagination.