An internet connection has become a basic necessity in our
modern lives. Wireless hot-spots (commonly known as Wi-Fi) can be found everywhere!
If you have a PC with
a wireless network card, then you must have seen many networks around you.
Sadly most of these networks are secured with a network security key.
Have you ever wanted
to use one of these networks? You must have desperately wanted to check your
mail when you shifted to your new house. The hardest time in your life is when
your internet connection is down.
Cracking those Wi-Fi
passwords is your answer to temporary internet access. This is a comprehensive
guide which will teach even complete beginners how to crack WEP encrypted
networks, easily.
Table of Contents
1. How are Wireless networks secured?
2. What you'll need
3. Setting up CommView for Wi-Fi
4. Selecting the target network and capturing
packets
5. Waiting...
6. Now the interesting part... CRACKING!
Are you a visual learner?
How Are Wireless
Networks Secured?
In a secured wireless
connection, internet data is sent in the form of encrypted packets. These
packets are encrypted with network security keys. If you somehow manage to get
hold of the key for a particular wireless network you virtually have access to
the wireless internet connection
Broadly speaking there
are two main types of encryptions used:
WEP (Wired Equivalent
Privacy):
This is the most basic form
of encryption. This has become an unsafe option as it is vulnerable and can be
cracked with relative ease. Although this is the case many people still use
this encryption.
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access):
This is the more
secure alternative. Efficient cracking of the passphrase of such a network
requires the use of a wordlist with the common passwords. In other words you
use the old fashioned method of trial and error to gain access. Variations
include WPA-2 which is the most secure encryption alternative till date.
Although this can also be cracked using a wordlist if the password is common,
this is virtually uncrackable with a strong password. That is, unless the WPA
PIN is still enabled (as is the default on many routers).
Hacking WEP passwords is relatively fast, so we'll focus on how
to crack them for this guide. If the only networks around you use WPA
passwords, you'll want to follow this guide on how to crack WPA WiFi
passwords instead.
What You'll Need...
·
A compatible wireless adapter:
This is by far the biggest requirement.The wireless card of your
computer has to be compatible with the software CommVIew. This ensures that the
wireless card can go into monitor mode which is essential for capturing
packets.Click here to check if your
wireless card is compatible
·
CommView for Wi-Fi :
This software will be used to capture the packets from the
desired network adapter.Click here and download the software from the website.
·
Aircrack-ng GUI:
After capturing the packets this software does the actual
cracking.Click here-Click here and download the software from the website.
·
A little patience is vital!!
Step 1: Setting Up
CommView for Wi-Fi
·
Download the zip file
of CommView for Wi-Fi from the website. Extract the file and run setup.exe to
install CommView for Wi-Fi. When CommView opens for the first time it has a
driver installation guide. Follow the prompts to install the driver for your
wireless card.
·
Run CommView for
Wi-Fi.
·
Click the play icon on
the top left of the application window.
Start scanning for
wireless networks.
CommView now starts
scanning for wireless networks channel by channel. After a few minutes you will
have a long list of wireless networks with their security type and signal. Now
it is time to choose your target network
Step 2: Selecting the
Target Network and Capturing Packets
A few things to keep
in mind before choosing the target wireless network
·
This tutorial is only
for WEP encrypted networks.
So make sure you
select a network with WEP next to its name
·
Choose a network with
the highest signal.
·
Each network will have
its details in the right column.
·
Make sure the WEP
network you are choosing has the least the least dB (decibel) value.
Once you have chosen
your target network,select it and click Capture to start capturing packets from
the desired channel.
Now you might notice
that packets are being captured from all the networks in the particular
channel. To capture packets only from the desired network follow the given
steps.
·
Right click the
desired network and click on copy MAC Address.
·
Switch to the Rules
tab on the top.
·
On the left hand side
choose MAC Addresses
·
Enable MAC Address
rules
·
For 'Action' select
'capture' and for 'Add record' select 'both'.
·
Now paste the mac
address copied earlier in the box below.
We need to capture
only data packets for cracking. Hence select D on the bar at the top of the
window and deselect M (Management packets) and C (Control packets).
Now you have to save
the packets so that they can be cracked later. To do this-
·
Go to the logging tab
on top and enable auto saving.
·
Set Maximum Directory
Size to 2000
·
Set Average Log File
Size to 20.
Step 3: Waiting...
Now the boring part-
WAITING!
NOTE: The amount of
time taken to capture enough data packets depends on the signal and the
networks usage. The minimum number of packets you should capture should be
100,000 for a decent signal.
After you think you
have enough packets (at least 100,000 packets)
·
Go to the log tab and
click on concatenate logs.
·
Select all the logs
that have been saved.
·
Do not close CommView
for Wi-Fi
·
Now navigate to the
folder where the concatenated logs have been saved
·
Open the log file
·
Select File- Export
-Wire shark tcpdump format and choose any suitable destination.
This will save the logs
with a .cap extension to that location
Now the Interesting
Part... CRACKING!
·
Download Aircrack-ng
and extract the zip file.
·
Open the folder and
navigate to 'bin'.
·
Run Aircrack-ng GUI
·
Choose WEP
·
Open your .cap file
that you had saved earlier.
·
Click Launch.
·
In the command prompt
type in the index number of your target wireless network.
·
Wait for a while .If
everything goes fine the wireless key will be shown.
You may also receive a
request to try with more packets. In this case wait until more packets have
been captured and repeat the steps to be performed after capturing packets
BEST OF LUCK
