Theoretical Discussion: Hotel WiFi Hack

logankriete · 2006-08-10T03:00:48+00:00

Alright, let me start off by saying that I'm not a malicious hacker -like hacker ethic's state, I do this soley for exploration andadvancement of knowledge.Let me also say that this may be a long post, but I hope all of yourespond so we can have an exciting discussion!Now that the legalese and foreward is out of the way, I've got adiscussion to start with you wireless experts. I've done my share ofhacking before, but I've not done any WiFi hacking, so I thought I'dpost this here to sort of get a consensus on a crazy idea I hadtonight.I'm staying at this hotel in NYC over the next 3 days (the Doubletreeby Times Square). They don't offer wired internet because it's an oldbuilding and they don't want to rewire it all. So they offer wirelessinternet in the suites for $9.95/day. Bummer, right? So the person I'mstaying with in the hotel signs up wirelessly with his laptop and getson just fine. The system makes him register an account, and he's gothis high-speed internet. So I try the account on my computer - no suchluck. Perhaps only one laptop at a time is allowed to connect? He logsoff and shuts down his wireless, and I try again. Strike two. Alright,so perhaps they're filtering based on something else - what's the mostpermanent thing most people have associated with their network cards? AMAC address! Looking more closely at the history log of my friend'slaptop (we're both computer people and keep logs of these sorts ofthings), I notice that when he first signed up with the system, itpassed his MAC address around via some GET variables in the URL. So Igo ahead and change my MAC address to his and re-connect, again makingsure he's off. Bingo! Wireless internet. Main problem: solved.Now here's where I started getting excited. They obviously havewireless coverage in all of the rooms built in, and the gateway filterswho's allowed to connect by A) an account with user/pass combo; B) theMAC address; or C) a combination of both. Now, I had typed in theaccount information with...

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logankriete 20 years ago

Since most people here seem to be thinking that I'm some sort of malicious criminal, I'm no longer going to reply to this thread. Just a few retorts before I leave:

I'm not a troll as John assumed. Search my name on the Internet - you'll see.

I'm not interested AT ALL WHATSOEVER in stealing peoples' access, kicking them off the network, disrupting their session, or anything else of that nature to cause any inconvenience or harm to any user of the network. This was a STRICTLY THEORETICAL discussion - if you don't understand what that means, look it up. Plenty of great ideas and contributions to society have risen out of a group of people tossing around "what-if" scenarios. John, do you think the creators of the "Stealing the Network" series planned to, or actually committed, any of the events depicted in their books? And if so, why not? I'm curious to know as to how you can believe them but not me. And they provided a complete roadmap on exactly how to use and execute every single one of the tools needed to accomplish a sought-after goal. I just asked for a simple, intellectual discussion on different possibilities - not step-by-step instructions on how to hack the hotel's network.

And I'll leave you with this: if I had really wanted to hack the network, I wouldn't have posted something here - I would've asked in one of the underground forums. And, consequently, I would know if you post fake information.

Thank you to those who wanted to and tried to make an earnest effort of c> On Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:30:30 -0400, Robert Coe wrote in

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Jeff Liebermann 20 years ago

I did that when you first suggested it. You didn't post your real name, but it can be deduced.

I did search Google groups for your current email address: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com which returns only a few messages in the current thread.

Doing a bit of digging, I find: |

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returns Logan Kriet as your real name. Using that to search Google groups by author returns nothing.

Other interesting item are:

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shows nothing interesting.

Also, your web pages:

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are equally devoid of any content.

You seem to be involved in some software development projects:

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is good, but shows nothing related to hacking, ethicial or otherwise.

What were we suppose to see when we search your name on the internet?

Hint:

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14,300 articles and:

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102,000 articles.

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Robert Coe 20 years ago

On 11 Aug 2006 20:56:30 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: : Since most people here seem to be thinking that I'm some sort of : malicious criminal, I'm no longer going to reply to this thread. Just a : few retorts before I leave: : : I'm not a troll as John assumed. Search my name on the Internet - : you'll see.

It was I, not John, who called you a troll. And I'm ignoring my own advice by commenting on anything you say. I attempt to justify this action by citing the intrinsic value of setting the record straight.

I don't give a rat's ass what the Internet says about your name.

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Bill Kearney 20 years ago

Oh please, I stand by the comment "grow up". Your long diatribe comes across as some juvenile newbie fascinated with being able to steal wifi access and pondering the implications of it. To cop some sort of attitude about being offended is just asinine. It's like you discovered the art of lockpicking and are so delighted about it you want to get a whole conversation going about it and how you broke into hotel rooms. While it's certainly fascinating, well to you anyway, a more mature mind would stop and think as to whether it's rational to go blathering about it to a newsgroup. Thus the statement "grow up".

Hey, once upon a time hacking long distance access was fun but we didn't go blaterhing about it to newsgroups, let alone trying to pretend being "offended" if someone called us on the abberant nature of it.

So I repeat, "grow up".

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