How to Sweep For Bugs and Hidden Cameras. Hidden cameras in an Airbnb, on your car, in your house. You want to be able to scan a room and feel safe.' So also check the Wi-Fi networks with a. Las redes WiFi abiertas son como un soplo de aire fresco para el usuario que se ha quedado sin datos en su smartphone, o para el que necesita conectar su ordenador para enviar un t.
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Most of the wireless routers today comes with some security feature such as security encryption (WEP/WPA), MAC address filtering, lowering transmission power, disabling DHCP & use static IP, and hiding of SSID to help keep your wireless network safe from intruders. Each wireless security mechanism helps to increase the difficulty of unauthorized users from hacking in to your wireless networks but surely does not prevent the determined ones. In this article we will be focusing on one of the option âBroadcast SSIDâ found in most wireless routers.
Basically when the broadcast SSID option is enabled, all wireless capable devices can see your router listed together with a bunch of other wireless networks. This option provides a convenience for you to easily connect to it by clicking on your SSID and entering the security key. However, this also allows the nearby hackers to find your network and also see the signal strength with the security type being used directly from Windows without even the need to run a network scanning tool. Non broadcasting wireless networks are not totally invisible as well because they can be detected by any of the 8 tools mentioned below.
1. inSSIDer
inSSIDer is the most popular free and open source Wi-Fi scanning tool available today. It is easy to use and understand without all the confusing configuration. After installation, running inSSIDer will automatically select your wireless adapter to start scanning for available access points. Then the results will be shown in a sortable table in the program displaying information such as SSID, channel, security, RSSI, MAC Address, maximum rate, vendor and network type.
The hidden wireless network is shown in the first line with an empty SSID but the rest of the information about the network is displayed. inSSIDer works on Windows XP/Vista/7 (32-bit & 64-bit) and also on Android and Mac.
Download inSSIDer
2. WirelessNetView
Another excellent small and portable utility by Nir Sofer called WirelessNetView allows you to view the available wireless networks around you. By placing the OUI database at the same folder as WirelessNetView, it can even show the brand of the wireless router based on the MAC address. It is possible to generate a HTML report file from the right click context menu and it also has command line support to save the list of wireless networks into an external TXT, CSV, HTML or XML file.
The hidden wireless network is shown without a SSID. A unique feature found in WirelessNetView is the ability to restart Windows Wireless Service from the Options toolbar or alternatively from the hotkey Ctrl+R. WirelessNetView works from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Download WirelessNetView
3. Winhotspot
Winhotspot is actually a stand alone application that allows you to easily create a hotspot to share your Internet connection using your wireless adapter. However it also comes with a scanner which can be accessed from the WiFi Stats tab and clicking the Refresh button shows all the available wireless networks including the hidden ones.
The wardriving feature is very basic that only shows the important information such as SSID, Auth, BSSID, Signal, Radio and Channel. This utility is only 154KB in size and works only in Windows 7 and 8. The file is hosted in CNETâs server and you should click on the Direct Download link instead of the big Download Now button to avoid downloading the unnecessary 600KB CNET installer.
Download Winhotspot
4. Homedale
Homedal (read our full review) is another portable and free wireless monitoring tool that is capable of showing hidden wireless networks. The program is divided into four different tabs showing an overview of your wireless adapter, access points, signal graph and options. At the Access Points tab you can see all the detected networks with the signal strength levels being automatically updated every few seconds.
An interesting feature found in Homedale is the ability to connect to the access point by right clicking on the AP and select Connect. Unfortunately the connect command does nothing to the hidden ones without the SSID.
Download Homedale
5. NetSurveyor
NetSurveyor by Nuts About Nets seems to be a more professional tool as it comes with logging to record and playback the data. Other than that, a PDF report can also be automatically generated from the File menu that shows the discovered networks, beacon qualities, usage of channels and timecourse/heatmap/spectrogram of channels.
Hidden wireless networks are shown as UNKNOWN_SSID_BSSID in the program. The channel usage bar graph instantly tells you the overlapping channels with the colored bars. Even if your computer does not have a wireless adapter, NetSurveyor can be ran as DEMO mode to get a feel on how it works. NetSurveyor works from XP SP3 with Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 or later.
Download NetSurveyor
6. Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector
Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector is biggest in file size at 21MB if compared to the rest of the scanners mentioned in this article. The program has a modern ribbon type of user interface which seems a bit unnecessary because it only has 1 Home tab. The program categorizes into four different parts which is the radar, connection information, found networks and signal history. The radar simply displays the access points closest to you.
A gadget version of the Inspector can also be downloaded from the official website. It is free and works on Windows XP SP2 or later, Vista, or 7.
Download Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector
7. Vistumbler
Vistumbler is a free wireless network scanner coded in Autoit made for Vista to replace the outdated Netstumbler. Vistumbler has been around since 2007 and an updated version has been recently released after without updates for 2 years. The method used by Vistumbler to scan the access point is the same as method #8 below except the results are shown in an easy to read table.
Running Vistumbler will report that an update is available even though weâve just downloaded the latest version. Clicking on the Yes button will prompt an error about a variable used without being declared and clicking OK will close the program. What you need to do is simply click No when it ask you if you like to update vistumbler.
Download Vistumbler
8. netsh
If you are unable to install and run any of the 7 tools above, netsh would be your best alternative. netsh is a command shell tool by Microsoft found in Windows operating system. Simply launch command prompt and type the following command line to get a list of wireless networks. It is advisable to disconnect from any access points before running this command to get a more accurate result.
netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid
The netsh command is useful because it doesnât require installation of third party programs but it does not come with a fancy graphical user interface or nice looking graphs. Surprisingly the netsh tool is able to show quite a wealth of information if compared to the third party tools mentioned above. Do take note that if both wired and wireless are connected, you will need to disable the wired connection first or else youâll get the message âThere are 0 networks currently visibleâ.
Editorâs Note: If you havenât noticed, all of the network scanning tools above can only discover invisible wireless networks but they cannot reveal the hidden SSID. Most of them shows a blank SSID while only NetSurveyor shows UNKNOWN_SSID and Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector shows Non-Broadcasted. There are some wireless utility that is installed together with the wireless adapter driver capable of showing hidden networks. Although the Windows wardriving tools is unable to reveal the hidden SSID in invisible wireless networks, it doesnât mean that hiding SSID broadcast is safe. The hidden SSID can be revealed by de-authenticating connected users using aireplay-ng that is found in BackTrack Linux.
You might also like:5 Tools To Monitor Your Wireless Network Signal StrengthConnect Computers Together using Ad Hoc Wireless for Sharing the Internet and Files5 Tools to Check if Someone is Using my Wireless Network (WiFi)6 Ways to Import and Export Wireless Network Profile Settings10 Ad-Free Programs to Share Wireless Internet Connection in Windows![]()
Thank You so much for all the info Raymond ,is very helpful .
Reply
Baba3 years ago
I will appreciate your research and cannot express my gratitude Reply
GOD Bless u.
What can I do to find out, who the people are to the right of my Computer in NetWorks? Reply
I have a feeling they are in there to gather information on my computer? thanks, Joe
Lizardsystems4 years ago
Also you may use Lizardsystems Wi-Fi Scanner lizardsystems.com/wi-fi-scanner/
Reply
Acrylic WiFi v2.1 can discover and reveal hidden WiFi names as it supports monitor mode capture under windows
acrylicwifi.com/en/wlan-software/wlan-scanner-acrylic-wifi-free/
Reply
Lulu6 years ago
Thanks a lot for this , it helps me a lot with my research :)
Reply
Acrylic WiFi Reply
tarlogic.com/en/products/acrylic-wifi
Mahmoud Mustafa12 years ago
Thanks Raymond
Reply
Raymond, this is awesome. thanks man!
Reply
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Si bien es cierto que gracias a las redes 3G y 4G uno puede conectarse a Internet cómodamente desde su smartphone, o compartir la conexión de datos de su teléfono con su ordenador portátil, las redes Wi-Fi siguen siendo la puerta de acceso a Internet para muchos usuarios. CafeterÃas, centros comerciales, aeropuertos u hoteles son algunos de los lugares en los que podemos encontrar una red Wi-Fi a la que conectar nuestro ordenador o nuestro dispositivo móvil; un complemento a las redes de datos móviles que, incluso, es la base de las redes hÃbridas en las que trabajan los operadores.
Solo tenemos que echar un vistazo desde nuestro smartphone para darnos cuenta que estamos rodeados de redes Wi-Fi y muchas de ellas suelen estar abiertas, ya sea porque su gestor es algo descuidado o porque, realmente, sean de acceso público. Una red pública de acceso gratuito siempre es algo bien recibido por los usuarios; sin embargo, es importante que tomemos ciertas precauciones a la hora de conectarnos a este tipo de redes para intercambiar información con otros usuarios o trabajar.
En una red de uso público nunca vamos a saber quién más está conectado y cuáles son sus intenciones; dicho de otra forma, es complicado saber si hay alguien que esté analizando el tráfico para ver si caza una contraseña al más puro estilo del FireSheep que quitó el sueño a más de un usuario hace tres años. Eventos, cafeterÃas, estaciones no se libran de este tipo de amenazas, máxime si el tráfico no está cifrado.
Los riesgos de las redes Wi-Fi abiertas
Teniendo en cuenta lo que hemos comentado, creo que más o menos todos nos podemos hacer una idea de los riesgos a los que nos enfrentamos si, por ejemplo, conectamos nuestro portátil a una red pública sin tomar las medidas adecuadas. Con el caso de FireSheep (y puedo decir que me consta que, en un evento al que asistÃ, hubo alguien que lo usó para robar credenciales), nos dimos cuenta que podÃan suplantar nuestra identidad digital sin demasiados esfuerzos.
En una red insegura, alguien se podrÃa poner a escudriñar la red con algo tan simple como Whireshark y conseguir contraseñas, por ejemplo, de un buzón de correo que no este usando POP o IMAP bajo SSL.
Cifrar tu tráfico es la mejor solución
A diferencia de Reino Unido, donde la legislación para prevenir el terrorismo obliga a controlar las redes Wi-Fi de acceso público, los usuarios somos nuestra mejor defensa y, por tanto, queda en nuestra mano proteger nuestra privacidad adecuadamente.
Evidentemente, la mejor forma de evitar a los intrusos es usar conexiones cifradas, algo que Google nos ofrece por defecto cuando estamos identificados en sus servicios y hacen que Gmail, Google+ o Google Calendar se sirvan bajo https. Twitter también aprendió la lección y nos ofrece el servicio bajo SSL también y, en el caso de Facebook, es algo que tenemos que activar nosotros mismos a través de las opciones de configuración de nuestra cuenta (al igual que ocurre en LinkedIn).
Para un servicio web, ofrecer conexiones no cifradas es mucho más cómodo porque implica menor carga; sin embargo, desde el punto de vista del usuario no es la mejor de las opciones. Hay empresas que, a estas alturas, aún ofrecen su servicio de correo electrónico corporativo sin cifrar con el riesgo que ello implica y, además, hay servicios habituales que, aunque lo soportan, tampoco ofrecen por defecto conexiones seguras.
Si viajamos mucho y nos conectamos a redes no seguras, puede ser interesante que cifremos todo nuestro tráfico de navegación, incluso aunque los servicios a los que accedamos no sean crÃticos. Una buena forma de hacerlo es recurrir a extensiones como HTTPS Everywhere, KB SSL Enforcer o Force-TLS que cifran el tráfico en servicios como el buscador de Google (interesante si no hemos iniciado sesión) o Wikipedia para forzar una navegación más segura.
¿La solución más simple? Usar una VPN
Honestamente, creo que es recomendable darse una vuelta por LinkedIn y Facebook para ajustar la configuración de nuestra cuenta y forzar el uso de conexiones seguras. Sin embargo, no siempre vamos a tener esta opción disponible, por ejemplo, si no tenemos bajo SSL el panel de administración de nuestro blog (aunque es algo que podrÃamos solventar comparando un certificado para nuestro dominio y plugins como WordPress HTTPS).
Para este tipo de situaciones en las que una extensión de navegador o una buena configuración no son suficientes, puede ser interesante que recurramos a la artillerÃa pesada: usar una conexión VPN. La VPN nos permite establecer un canal cifrado de comunicación y, de esta forma, librarnos de los posibles espÃas que haya por la red que estemos usando; una solución ideal para grandes eventos que forma parte del kit básico de cualquier usuario que asiste a un congreso.
Servicios como Spotflux son una muy buena opción a tener en cuenta a la hora de buscar una solución para gestionar una VPN para nuestro equipo. También podemos echarle un ojo a Remobo o, incluso, a Comodo.
Ojo con los servicios compartidos
A veces, por comodidad y simplicidad, podemos compartir carpetas con nuestros amigos o compañeros de trabajo; unas carpetas que compartimos desde nuestro PC sin poner demasiadas opciones de seguridad.
¿El problema? Que salgamos por ahà con carpetas compartidas y nos conectemos a una red abierta; una puerta abierta casi con 'felpudo de bienvenida' para que cualquier con algo de maña y tiempo se ponga a probar (y en una oficina, más de una vez te encuentras cosas que asustan bastante).
? Más en Hipertextual
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