Exploring War Driving: A Growing Threat To Network Safety

... how secure is this technology? What kinds of problems will IT staff encounter? One type of problem gaining national attention is called "war driving," in which a hacker can use a laptop computer to drive around and, like tuning in radio stations, can seek out personal information on wireless networks.. . . ... how secure is this technology? What kinds of problems will IT staff encounter? One type of problem gaining national attention is called "war driving," in which a hacker can use a laptop computer to drive around and, like tuning in radio stations, can seek out personal information on wireless networks.

In the old days of computing, hackers used a technique called "war dialing." The computer's modem was set up to dial lists of phone numbers, hoping to reach another computer system's modem. Once a computer answered, a hacker would try to gain access to the network. This new laptop technique is called "war driving," and is actually much easier to do and easier to remain undetected. A person attempting to gain access to a network could easily sit in the parking lot across the street from the building itself and have access to their internal network.