Need tips on using Ethernet to power WiFi network, and tips on setting up WiFi
 

Hey all,

I have done a bit of searching, but I am still basically clueless, so I am hoping someone can give me a good place to start with all this.

I have an old PowerBook G4 that I would like to use as a 'dummy' computer for learning wireless penetration (WEP/WPA attacks) more effectively. I had been using a wireless router, but I gave it away :(

I can use Mac OS X to share an ethernet connection over wifi, but this is _very_ un-configurable. You get two options only, WEP and a key-length.

So, I would like to install someway to make this wireless connection more configurable. I am sure I can do that w/linux, I just don't know how yet ;). So, are there any terms for this general technique (net sharing, eth to wifi, etc?) and could anyone provide some good starter links? Also, any info on setting up varying wifi networks in linux would be appreciated.


Thanks a bunch in advance!

crab

Mods, please do not lock this thread. This isn't a DMCA matter, so no legitimate suit could possibly be brought (illegitimate ones are always a risk, eh? :P), and closing it because 'we shouldn't be teaching people this' is security through obscurity, which I hope we all know is total crap. I could have been the one posting this a few years ago had I been a forum guy, and I promise that I am not, nor have I ever been, a black hat.

I'm not sure I fully understand. You want to learn about wireless penetration... but you don't have a wireless network to work with? What does bridging from ethernet to wifi have to do with any of this?

As I said, I did the same project once a while back. You will need a WEP network (there's nothing you can do with WPA except dictionary attacks, really) and at least three computers on it. You use two of them to generate traffic so you aren't waiting all week to get this done (I watched 300 over VNC to do this, IIRC), and the last one to sniff traffic and do the cracking. The first two can be any OS; the last one should, of course, be Linux. Look into aircrack-ng; at a minimum, it's in Fedora's repos, if not those of other distros.

Karamarisan,

Thanks for the reply! First, this is obv. not for black hat purposes, or I would not be trying to set up my own linux WAP. The purpose here is for me to be able to create a flexible AP out of my old computer to perform offensive security against to tune / improve my understanding there.

To explain a bit more, I am relatively literate in the aircrack-ng spectrum of this, so I am not looking for info on how to crack WEP or WPA at all. Rather, I would like to know if anyone has experience with using linux as a wireless ap. It looks like the standard method is to bridge the ethernet and the wireless interfaces and turn on hostapd.

I am not sure why you bridge the connections. Does that put them on the same subnet? What is the advantage? Hosts that connect to the AP using the hostapd you set up can now reach the gateway that exists on the LAN connection, and therefore the rest of the internet?

Thanks,
crab