Customer Reviews

Wireless Hacks: Tips & Tools for Building, Extending, and Securing Your Network

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll have to disagree a bit with reviewer Pablo D. The book is broad and shallow, but I think it appeals to more than just the raw beginner. I found a number of tricks (hard to call them "hacks") in the book that have been useful. While many of the topics covered are simply product reviews, that information is helpful to wireless users, too.

Here's the table of contents of the book, which spells out all 100 "hacks":
Chapter 1. The Standards
1. 802.11: The Mother of All IEEE Wireless Ethernet
2. 802.11a: The Betamax of the 802.11 Family
3. 802.11b: The De Facto Standard
4. 802.11g: Like 802.11b, only Faster
5. 802.16: Long Distance Wireless Infrastructure
6. Bluetooth: Cable Replacement for Devices
7. 900 MHz: Low Speed, Better Coverage
8. CDPD, 1xRTT, and GPRS: Cellular Data Networks
9. FRS and GMRS: Super Walkie-Talkies
10. 802.1x: Port Security for Network Communications
11. HPNA and Powerline Ethernet
12. BSS Versus IBSS

Chapter 2. Bluetooth and Mobile Data
13. Remote Control OS X with a Sony Ericsson Phone
14. SMS with a Real Keyboard
15. Photo Blog Automatically with the Nokia 3650
16. Using Bluetooth with Linux
17. Bluetooth to GPRS in Linux
18. Bluetooth File Transfers in Linux
19. Controlling XMMS with Bluetooth

Chapter 3. Network Monitoring
20. Find All Available Wireless Networks
21. Network Discovery Using NetStumbler
22. Network Detection on Mac OS X
23. Detecting Networks Using Handheld PCs
24. Passive Scanning with KisMAC
25. Establishing Connectivity
26. Quickly Poll Wireless Clients with ping
27. Finding Radio Manufacturers by MAC Address
28. Rendezvous Service Advertisements in Linux
29. Advertising Arbitrary Rendezvous Services in OS X
30. "Brought to you by" Rendezvous Ad Redirector
31. Detecting Networks with Kismet
32. Running Kismet on Mac OS X
33. Link Monitoring in Linux with Wavemon
34. Historical Link State Monitoring
35. EtherPEG and DriftNet
36. Estimating Network Performance
37. Watching Traffic with tcpdump
38. Visual Traffic Analysis with Ethereal
39. Tracking 802.11 Frames in Ethereal
40. Interrogating the Network with nmap
41. Network Monitoring with ngrep
42. Running ntop for Real-Time Network Stats

Chapter 4. Hardware Hacks
43. Add-on Laptop Antennas
44. Increasing the Range of a Titanium PowerBook
45. WET11 Upgrades
46. AirPort Linux
47. Java Configurator for AirPort APs
48. Apple Software Base Station
49. Adding an Antenna to the AirPort
50. The NoCat Night Light
51. Do-It-Yourself Access Point Hardware
52. Compact Flash Hard Drive
53. Pebble
54. Tunneling: IPIP Encapsulation
55. Tunneling: GRE Encapsulation
56. Running Your Own Top-Level Domain
57. Getting Started with Host AP
58. Make Host AP a Layer 2 Bridge
59. Bridging with a Firewall
60. MAC Filtering with Host AP
61. Hermes AP
62. Microwave Cabling Guide
63. Microwave Connector Reference
64. Antenna Guide
65. Client Capability Reference Chart
66. Pigtails
67. 802.11 Hardware Suppliers
68. Home-Brew Power over Ethernet
69. Cheap but Effective Roof Mounts

Chapter 5. Do-It-Yourself Antennas
70. Deep Dish Cylindrical Parabolic Reflector
71. "Spider" Omni
72. Pringles Can Waveguide
73. Pirouette Can Waveguide
74. Primestar Dish with Waveguide Feed
75. BiQuad Feed for Primestar Dish
76. Cut Cable Omni Antenna
77. Slotted Waveguides
78. The Passive Repeater
79. Determining Antenna Gain

Chapter 6. Long Distance Links
80. Establishing Line of Sight
81. Calculating the Link Budget
82. Aligning Antennas at Long Distances
83. Slow Down to Speed Up
84. Taking Advantage of Antenna Polarization
85. Map the Wireless Landscape with NoCat Maps

Chapter 7. Wireless Security
86. Making the Best of WEP
87. Dispel the Myth of Wireless Security
88. Cracking WEP with AirSnort: The Easy Way
89. NoCatAuth Captive Portal
90. NoCatSplash and Cheshire
91. Squid Proxy over SSH
92. SSH SOCKS 4 Proxy
93. Forwarding Ports over SSH
94. Quick Logins with SSH Client Keys
95. "Turbo-Mode" SSH Logins
96. OpenSSH on Windows Using Cygwin
97. Location Support for Tunnels in OS X
98. Using vtun over SSH
99. Automatic vtund.conf Generator
100. Tracking Wireless Users with arpwatch

Appendix: Deep Dish Parabolic Reflector Template

This is an amazing book about wireless. It's coverage of everything from the operating system level stuff, to drivers, to cards, to hacking cards, to building your own antenna, to doing shotgun wireless is just incredible. If you are a serious wireless junkie you will love this book. For the casual coffee shop surfer, this is probably not the right book, but you probably don't have any issues with wireless anyway.

An interesting amalgam of software and hardware tips. The author clearly loves to tinker, as seen by his description of how he and friends put together a waveguide antenna built around a Pringles can. Perusing the book seems to give some of the flavour of the Homebrew Computer Club in San Francisco during the 1970s, when the PC revolution was gestating.

To some (many?) of you, the do-it-yourself ethos of this book may be its greatest allure. Flickenger reinforces this with many examples of analysis programs contributed by enthusiasts, often with source code available for your modification.

If indeed you seem attracted, do not tarry. Flickenger may not explicitly state this anywhere in the book, but it really describes a field and hobby that will rapidly make much of the book obsolete. Chances are, in a few years hardware will be standardised by a few major manufacturers, and most operating systems will have all the necessary wireless software. So if you want some fun, perhaps now is the time.

Despite the dubiously provocative title, this book in essence, is a practical guide to the wireless frontier of telecommunications. The term `hacking' is often perceived as a negative act, while the term `hacker' in the computer tech realm is heeded as a compliment--tinctured with hues of creativity and technical prowess (to infiltrate network systems). The term `hack' in this book, refers to something entirely different. It's defined as a "quick-n-dirty" means of getting to the core of a technological problem; or a resourceful and unconventional way of accomplishing a task.


This book offers a panoramic view of the wireless landscape in practical and easily digestible terms. The background and evolution of wireless technology is brought into focus, with wide-lens coverage on existing wireless standards that define the Wi-Fi revolution today--the 802.11b and 802.11g protocols, their antecedents, as well as latter counterparts that have yet to pervade the mainstream. The characteristics of each protocol (frequency bands on which it operates, data speed capacity, etc.) along with their real-world applications, virtues and limitations, provide the reader greater understanding. These inherent strengths and weaknesses, when framed into context, empowers the consumer to make an informed decision on a wireless format best suited to his needs. A panoply of wireless devices and concepts (e.g. Bluetooth technology, mobile phone carrier networks, etc.) are also highlighted. And wireless-oriented acronyms (e.g. TDMA, CDMA, GSM, etc.) that obscure the telecommunications domain are effectively elucidated.


Each chapter stands on its own--laid out with a specific subject matter--so that page-by-page reading is not necessary for comprehension. Chapter 5 ("Do-It-Yourself Antennas") presents tried-and-true, home-spun devices for extending wireless network range, while Chapter 7 deals with wireless security--offering tips for recognizing network holes and providing suggestions on securing a network.


While valuable troubleshooting tips are plentiful, much of this book is dedicated to specific wireless schemes (or "hacks") for achieving optimal wireless network efficiency. Leaving no computer user behind, each "hack" is delineated in various Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. And each hack is rated in terms of difficulty: beginner, moderate and expert. An expert-level hack might be entitled, "Photo Blog Automatically with the Nokia 3650", which instructs users on photo publishing from the road, without having to log on to a computer.


Practical and sometimes unconventional tools are provided for implementing and enabling wireless technology in a home environment and elsewhere. One segment provides beginner-level, step-by-step instructions on how to turn your laptop into a spectrum analyzer (without installing any additional software) for the purpose of locating all wireless networks within range.


In its entirety, this book is concisely laid out for ease of comprehension. The technologies that have come to define the wireless revolution are illuminated and relative strengths and weaknesses of various network standards are highlighted. Resources for optimizing networking hardware are provided--from extending range and intensifying data throughput, to managing and exploiting valuable wireless resources--in creative and non-traditional ways. Riveting in content, it brings into focus the intensely dynamic pace of wireless evolution, while effectively familiarizing the reader with the infinite bounties of telecomm's wireless dimension.

Are you one of the millions of users who suddenly need nothing more than a laptop and wireless card to get online? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Rob Flickenger and Roger Weeks, have done an outstanding job of writing the 2nd edition of a practical book that gives you the reader, the most out of your wireless networking hardware and software.

Flickenger and Weeks, begin by demonstrating some of the uses for Bluetooth, Mobile Phones and GPS, which will keep your devices connected, without wires. Then, the authors show you the tools you need to detect the presence of wireless networks, coordinate spectrum usage to avoid interference, and visualize network performance. Next, they explore the current standards for securing wireless networks and suggest several strong methods for protecting yourself and your wireless users from abuse.
The authors then show you how to push wireless hardware to the limits, extending range and increasing performance and efficiency. They continue by covering software hacks in detail. Then, the authors present several homebrew designs for wireless networking made by contributors from all over the world. Finally, they present a collection of techniques to help simplify the job of building wireless networks that cover the area you require.

In this most excellent book, you will find practical techniques for extending range , increasing throughput, managing wireless resources, and generally making your wireless networking vision a reality. More importantly, this book brings you the knowledge of experts who apply what they know in the real world every day.

Wireless Hacks is one of the best, most succinct books on all things wireless that I have come across. I was expecting the standard "how to set up and secure a wireless access point" fare, and while you do get some of that, you get so much more as well. The authors really do a good job covering everything wireless. From BlueTooth technology, to standard WiFi, to hacking routers, to creating your own antennas, this is a great book for anyone interested in wireless technology.

Like the other "Hacks" books from O'Reilly, this book contains 100 different things you can do to get more out of your wireless devices. The book begins with a good section on BlueTooth technology. If you've got a new cell phone, chances are you have BlueTooth. The authors show you how to do a lot of creative things-from simply connecting your phone to your computer, to showing a slide show of photographs.

The section on 802.11x hacks is so much more than how to secure a network. The authors show you how to detect wireless networks, how to analyze and watch network traffic, and even build your own access point. One of my favorite hacks involves turning a Linksys WRT54G wireless router into a remote control car-all over 802.11b.

In the last section of the book, the authors concentrate on creating effective wireless networks-big or small. Examples are provided for creating a network for a single house, as well as how to create a network for a whole city.

This is a fascinating book, with examples provided for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. This book is a must have for wireless network enthusiasts.

Wireless Hacks (2nd Edition) - Tips & Tools for Building, Extending, and Securing Your Network by Rob Flickenger & Roger Weeks is one of those book that will have different levels of appeal to each reader based on factors like operating system, technical expertise, and other various items...

Contents: Bluetooth, Mobile Phones, and GPS; Network Discovery and Monitoring; Wireless Security; Hardware Hacks; Software Hacks; Do-It-Yourself Antennas; Wireless Network Design; Wireless Standards; Wireless Hardware Guide; Index

As all books in the Hacks series, this title contains a number of tips and tricks that you can explore to enhance your experience in the given subject matter. In this case, it's wireless networking. The book seems to cover a very wide range of topics and operating systems, along with a wide array of hack complexity. Rather than concentrate on a single OS like Windows, the authors cover Windows, Mac, *and* Linux on a number of the hacks. In fact, without counting to be sure, it almost seems like Linux is a bit more predominate than the other two. That's probably understandable, as trying to get Linux to work with things like Bluetooth isn't as "out of the box" as it might be with Windows or Macs. You might also find parts of the book not applicable to your situation, like if you don't have Bluetooth on your phone. Of course, if you *do* have Bluetooth, then you've got some new toys to play with. My personal favorite section was the Do-It-Yourself Antennas chapter, as they have some good information in there on how to improve your reception and your broadcast focus. Since my access point is in the basement and my son's computer is two floors up, I could benefit from a homebrew reflector...

Normally I'm willing to recommend a Hacks title with no caveats. In this case, I think a potential reader needs to be a bit cautious. Don't count on nearly all the hacks to be of interest. You'll either be running the wrong OS, or you'll not be very adept with a soldiering iron. Conversely, all it takes is one or two good new tricks to make a book worthwhile. You could well find those gems in here, but you'll have to look a little harder than normal...

There are some reasonable tips here about Wifi hacking. However, I know most of them already. The primary tips are the use of software for Wifi hacking. However, they do not go into great depth on all subjects.

There is some other background on other 802.11 protocol information. But I don't consider a background on 802.11 family of protocols a "tip". That's just information. What I want is gems of practical and applicable ideas/methods that you can only learn from long experience.
In that respect this is disappointing.
If you're serious about Wifi hacking get Wi-Foo. If you want a painless and low cost introduction then Wireless Hacks is appropriate.

-J_Tom_Moon_79

For the reviewer that said there weren't many hacks in this book, I have no idea what they are talking about. If you play with wireless devices in your spare time and you want to find new toys you can play with, or want to build toys of your own, this is the perfect guide to turn to! With 100 different ideas and tips, for any wireless junkie that likes to take things apart, put things back together, and play with the latest technology, this book is for you!!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

In the interest of full disclosure, I am in no way related to or compensated by O'Reilly, but I am a huge fan of the entire Hacks series of books. Each book provides 100 tips and tricks, in short, how-to format, that help you get the most out of some product or service. The concept is as functional as it is brilliant.

That said, Wireless Hacks - 2nd Edition is no exception to the rule. This edition provides a total of 12 hacks in the section titled Wireless Security, but a number of other hacks throughout the book can be used to identify security concerns or provide a higher level of protection for your wireless network.

Tip #40 (Stop Moochers From Stealing Your Wi-Fi Bandwidth) explains how to use AirSnare, a free program for Windows XP, which monitors for rogue users and reports their activity to you as well as allowing you to send the alerts demanding that they stop their illegal activity. Tip #51 (Track Wireless Users) shows you how to use arpwatch (not a Windows program), to log which MAC addresses are using which IP addresses and alert you of suspicious activity.

Those are just a couple examples. The book provides a wide variety of tips, and anybody who uses wireless networking is bound to find a few that will help them.