Forensics and war-driving on unsecured wireless network

This paper investigates the effect of common war-driving on wireless network. Different war-driving software tools are examined and their effects are compared. It also investigates how forensics tools can monitor war drivers. The experiments show that significant numbers of homes are deploying wireless access points without much regard to the security of these devices and it is anticipated that more digital crime cases in this field will be deployed. Such cases include connecting to an unsecured home Wi-Fi network and performing illegal activities, or stealing personal data with sensitive information and using it to threaten victims or perform identity theft. © 2011 ICITST

“Going Dark” – The Challenge Facing Law Enforcement in the 21st Century

The role of law enforcement on all levels is to prevent, detect, and investigate criminal activity. A fundamental function of law enforcement is to collect intelligence and evidence to combat criminal and terrorist activity. In numerous instances, intelligence and evidence of criminal activity appear in the form of communications and electronic data. To be effective, law enforcement requires the ability to intercept and access these communications and the electronic data pursuant to legal authority

Understanding common password design:a study towards building a penetration testing tool

Abstract. Almost everything that is meant to be kept private is currently being protected by passwords. While systems and devices can be designed with robust security measures, the effcacy of such systems can be compromised if the end-user chooses a weak password, especially one easily found in common wordlists. Given the prevailing security dynamics, especially with the ongoing Ukraine war and Finland’s NATO membership considerations, the inadequate protection of WiFi devices may transcend individual privacy concerns. Supo, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, posits that routers with subpar security could pose considerable national security risks. This thesis aims to investigate the strategies people use when creating new passwords. This is done by using prior knowledge about password creation habits and by conducting an analysis of leaked passwords. The study also examines existing tools for password list generation for penetration testing to see what the strengths and weaknesses of those tools are. This will be the groundwork for creating a lightweight tool for password list generation that can be used to do penetration testing with dictionary attacks and possibly detect if weak passwords are being used. The problem with the current tools is that they either create a very large wordlist or are too small to be practical. They also seem to lack the mangling capabilities of the wordlists. The proposed solution is evaluated using the wardriving method, accompanied by the acquisition of pmkid hashes from WiFi access points. Subsequently, these hashes are matched against passwords generated by the designated tool, leveraging Hashcat to ascertain their decryptability. Through this process, the study also provides a snapshot of WiFi password robustness within the City of Oulu. The fndings revealed that approximately 6% of WiFi access points employed passwords deemed too weak. This discovery aligns with earlier research conducted in the city of Oulu, where a related investigation highlighted that nearly 14.78% of devices lack password protection, effectively operating as open access points [1].Yleisten suunnittelumenetelmien ymmärtäminen salasanojen luomiseen : tutkimus penetraatiotestaustyökalun rakentamiseen. Tiivistelmä. Lähes kaikki yksityisenä pidettävät asiat ovat tällähetkellä salasanojen suojaamia. Laitteet ja järjestelmät voidaan suunnitella tietoturvaominaisuuksiltaan kattavaksi, mutta näiden laitteiden ja järjestelmien turvallisuus voi vaarantua, jos loppukäyttäjä valitsee laitteen salasanaksi heikon salasanan. Etenkin jos valittu salasana sattuu vielä löytymään yleisistä salasanalistoista. Wif laitteiden riittämätön suojaaminen voi aiheuttaa turvallisuusongelmia, kun tarkastellaan vallitsevaa turvallisuusdynamiikkaa, Ukrainan sotaan ja Suomen Nato jäsenyyteen liittyen. Suojelupoliisi arvioi että heikosti suojatut reitittimet voivat aiheuttaa merkittäviä kansallisia turvallisuusriskejä. Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on tutkia ihmisten käyttämiä strategioita salasanojen luomiseen. Tämä tehdään käyttämällä aiempaa tietoa salasanojen luomistavoista, sekä tekemällä analyysi aiemmin nettiin vuotaneista salasanoista. Tutkimuksessa myös tarkastellaan olemassa olevia työkaluja salasanalistojen luomiseen ja selvitetään mitkä ovat näiden työkalujen vahvuudet ja heikkoudet. Edellämainitut toimenpiteet ovat pohjatyö jonka perusteella rakennetaan kevyt työkalu salasanalistojen luomiseen penetraatiotestausta varten. Jo tehtävää varten olemassaolevien työkalujen ongelmana on että ne luovat joko liian suuria tai pieniä sanalistoja ollakseen käytännöllisiä. Niistä puuttuu myös toiminnallisuus sanalistojen muokkaamiseen. Työkalun tehokkuutta arvioidaan ja testataan wardriving menetelmällä Wiftukipisteistä hankituilla pmkid hasheilla. Myöhemmin hashejä verrataan työkalun luomiin sanalistoihin käyttäen apuna Hashcat nimistä työkalua ja tutkitaan löytyykö vastaavuuksia, ts. vastaako jokin työkalun luomista sanoista salasanaa jolla hash on luotu. Tätä kautta saadaan myös tilannekuva Wifsalasanojen vahvuudesta Oulun kaupungissa. Tulokset paljastivat että noin 6 % Wif-tukipisteistä käytetään liian heikkoa salasanaa. Tämä löytö on linjassa aiemmin Oulussa tehdyn tutkimuksen kanssa, jossa kyseinen tutkimus osoitti että lähes 14.78 % laitteista puuttuu salasanasuojaus ja laitteet toimivat noissa tapauksissa avoimina tukiasemina. [1

A systematic methodology for continuous WLAN abundance and security analysis

In this paper, we present a systematic methodology for continuous surveying and analysis of 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) abundance and security, based on the passive wireless network scanning technique called wardriving. The objective is to provide an efficient, scalable, and easily accessible methodology for collecting, analysing and storing WLAN survey data. To adhere to these set requirements, the presented survey and analysis processes can be carried out with freely available open-source software and common off-the-shelf hardware. While extensive literature has been produced on wardriving and numerous WLAN survey studies have been documented in previous works, to our knowledge, no similar comprehensive methodology for systematic WLAN surveying and analysis has been previously presented. To further rationalise the need for surveying and analysing WLAN networks, an investigation on the related literature and the current state of the WLAN networking landscape has been conducted. Furthermore, as surveying WLAN networks via the wardriving technique undoubtedly raises legal and moral concerns, the legitimacy and ethics of wardriving have been examined. To test the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, a primary test and calibration WLAN survey was conducted in three separate locations within a middle-sized city located in Southwest Finland. Based on the survey results, WLAN security in Finland is in a relatively good state. During the test survey, we successfully collected and analysed data from 720 WLAN networks, proving the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. From the 720 detected WLAN networks, 6% used insecure encryption protocols, 12.8% were unencrypted and a clear majority of 81.3% used the WPA2 encryption protocol. Results also show that wireless network device owners in the surveyed areas are not inclined to alter the factory-set default settings of their wireless networks. It was noted that roughly 40% of the surveyed networks used easily identifiable factory-set SSIDs and only 5.4% of the networks had a cloaked SSID. Furthermore, the survey data shows that WLAN devices from 38 different manufacturers were detected. Three of the most popular manufacturers in the surveyed area were Cisco with 28.3%, Huawei with 15.7% and Ruckus Networks with 9.7%.</p

Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain

Unmanned Aircraft Systems are an integral part of the US national critical infrastructure. The authors have endeavored to bring a breadth and quality of information to the reader that is unparalleled in the unclassified sphere. This textbook will fully immerse and engage the reader / student in the cyber-security considerations of this rapidly emerging technology that we know as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The first edition topics covered National Airspace (NAS) policy issues, information security (INFOSEC), UAS vulnerabilities in key systems (Sense and Avoid / SCADA), navigation and collision avoidance systems, stealth design, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms; weapons systems security; electronic warfare considerations; data-links, jamming, operational vulnerabilities and still-emerging political scenarios that affect US military / commercial decisions. This second edition discusses state-of-the-art technology issues facing US UAS designers. It focuses on counter unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) – especially research designed to mitigate and terminate threats by SWARMS. Topics include high-altitude platforms (HAPS) for wireless communications; C-UAS and large scale threats; acoustic countermeasures against SWARMS and building an Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) acoustic library; updates to the legal / regulatory landscape; UAS proliferation along the Chinese New Silk Road Sea / Land routes; and ethics in this new age of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (AI).https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1027/thumbnail.jp

Beyond sunglasses and spray paint: A taxonomy of surveillance countermeasures

Surveillance and privacy are seeming locked in a continual game of one-upmanship. In the security context, adversarial relationships exist where an attacker exploits a vulnerability and the defender responds with countermeasures to prevent future attack or exploitation. From there, the cycle continues, with new vulnerabilities and better exploits, against improved countermeasures. In the privacy context, many have feared the government as a highly empowered threat actor who would invasively and ubiquitously violate privacy, perhaps best personified by DARPA\u27s Total Information Awareness Initiative or Orwell\u27s 1984. However, commercial companies today offer enticing free products and services in return for user information, examples include search social networking, email, and collaborative word processing, among myriad other offerings, leading to instrumentation, data collection, and retention on an unprecedented scale. End users, small business, and local governments themselves are often complicit by supporting, enabling, and conducting such activities. Whether a dystopia exists in our future remains to be seen, although we argue panopticon-like environments exist in today\u27s authoritarian regimes and increasingly surveillance is becoming embedded in the fabric of Western society to thwart terrorism, increase business efficiency, monitor physical fitness, track driving behavior, provide free web search, and many other compelling incentives

The Montclarion, December 03, 2009

Student Newspaper of Montclair State Universityhttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/montclarion/1906/thumbnail.jp

Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies and Operations

As the quarter-century mark in the 21st Century nears, new aviation-related equipment has come to the forefront, both to help us and to haunt us. (Coutu, 2020) This is particularly the case with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These vehicles have grown in popularity and accessible to everyone. Of different shapes and sizes, they are widely available for purchase at relatively low prices. They have moved from the backyard recreation status to important tools for the military, intelligence agencies, and corporate organizations. New practical applications such as military equipment and weaponry are announced on a regular basis – globally. (Coutu, 2020) Every country seems to be announcing steps forward in this bludgeoning field. In our successful 2nd edition of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Cyber Domain: Protecting USA’s Advanced Air Assets (Nichols, et al., 2019), the authors addressed three factors influencing UAS phenomena. First, unmanned aircraft technology has seen an economic explosion in production, sales, testing, specialized designs, and friendly / hostile usages of deployed UAS / UAVs / Drones. There is a huge global growing market and entrepreneurs know it. Second, hostile use of UAS is on the forefront of DoD defense and offensive planners. They are especially concerned with SWARM behavior. Movies like “Angel has Fallen,” where drones in a SWARM use facial recognition technology to kill USSS agents protecting POTUS, have built the lore of UAS and brought the problem forefront to DHS. Third, UAS technology was exploding. UAS and Counter- UAS developments in navigation, weapons, surveillance, data transfer, fuel cells, stealth, weight distribution, tactics, GPS / GNSS elements, SCADA protections, privacy invasions, terrorist uses, specialized software, and security protocols has exploded. (Nichols, et al., 2019) Our team has followed / tracked joint ventures between military and corporate entities and specialized labs to build UAS countermeasures. As authors, we felt compelled to address at least the edge of some of the new C-UAS developments. It was clear that we would be lucky if we could cover a few of – the more interesting and priority technology updates – all in the UNCLASSIFIED and OPEN sphere. Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Technologies and Operations is the companion textbook to our 2nd edition. The civilian market is interesting and entrepreneurial, but the military and intelligence markets are of concern because the US does NOT lead the pack in C-UAS technologies. China does. China continues to execute its UAS proliferation along the New Silk Road Sea / Land routes (NSRL). It has maintained a 7% growth in military spending each year to support its buildup. (Nichols, et al., 2019) [Chapter 21]. They continue to innovate and have recently improved a solution for UAS flight endurance issues with the development of advanced hydrogen fuel cell. (Nichols, et al., 2019) Reed and Trubetskoy presented a terrifying map of countries in the Middle East with armed drones and their manufacturing origin. Guess who? China. (A.B. Tabriski & Justin, 2018, December) Our C-UAS textbook has as its primary mission to educate and train resources who will enter the UAS / C-UAS field and trust it will act as a call to arms for military and DHS planners.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1031/thumbnail.jp

Disruptive Technologies with Applications in Airline & Marine and Defense Industries

Disruptive Technologies With Applications in Airline, Marine, Defense Industries is our fifth textbook in a series covering the world of Unmanned Vehicle Systems Applications & Operations On Air, Sea, and Land. The authors have expanded their purview beyond UAS / CUAS / UUV systems that we have written extensively about in our previous four textbooks. Our new title shows our concern for the emergence of Disruptive Technologies and how they apply to the Airline, Marine and Defense industries. Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized, such that they are figuratively emerging into prominence from a background of nonexistence or obscurity. A Disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry.That is what our book is about. The authors think we have found technology trends that will replace the status quo or disrupt the conventional technology paradigms.The authors have collaborated to write some explosive chapters in Book 5:Advances in Automation & Human Machine Interface; Social Media as a Battleground in Information Warfare (IW); Robust cyber-security alterative / replacement for the popular Blockchain Algorithm and a clean solution for Ransomware; Advanced sensor technologies that are used by UUVs for munitions characterization, assessment, and classification and counter hostile use of UUVs against U.S. capital assets in the South China Seas. Challenged the status quo and debunked the climate change fraud with verifiable facts; Explodes our minds with nightmare technologies that if they come to fruition may do more harm than good; Propulsion and Fuels: Disruptive Technologies for Submersible Craft Including UUVs; Challenge the ammunition industry by grassroots use of recycled metals; Changing landscape of UAS regulations and drone privacy; and finally, Detailing Bioterrorism Risks, Biodefense, Biological Threat Agents, and the need for advanced sensors to detect these attacks.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1038/thumbnail.jp