WiFi Stumble

What is a WiFi Stumbler?
A WiFi stumbler is a software application that will help you find nearby wireless networks. It is a tool that can also be very helpful in providing information that can be used to tune your network’s wireless router. Stumblers are available for all major operating systems as well as mobile devices. Their main purpose is to search and report on network characteristics when you are not attached to a network. They can also be instrumental in planning a wireless network installation.

KisMAC is an open-source, wireless network discovery tool developed for the Mac OS X operating system. It is a powerful but not particularly user-friendly app that is designed to be used by network security professionals. This free software is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

Why You Should Use a WiFi Channel Scanner

If you are experiencing slow data transmission speeds or dropped connections, a likely cause is interference that is impacting the channel that your router is using. Through the use of a WiFi channel scanner app, you can monitor the channels that you and neighboring routers are using and perhaps change channels.

Many users never change their router channel, leaving it at the manufacturer’s default setting. This may not be the best channel for optimal performance of your WiFi network. Logging into your router lets you change the channel that it will use to transmit its signal. Changing it randomly may solve your issues, but you are far more likely to succeed with the information gleaned from scanning the channels.

In areas where there are a  number of routers with overlapping ranges, moving to an unused channel can dramatically improve the reliability and speed of your WiFi network. Apartment dwellers are particularly prone to having their networks impacted by other routers. Let’s find out how to use a WiFi scanner app to locate the best channel for you to use.

WiFi Scanners for macOS

Here are some WiFi scanners for the Mac.

NetSpot

KisMac2

iStumbler

WiFi Scanner

One of these applications should work for you in your endeavor to scan WiFi networks with your Mac.

How to Get Free WiFi

You may want to take advantage of this phenomena and are wondering how you can find free WiFi near your location. There are ads available that can help you in your quest. If you are using a Mac laptop to search for WiFi, the KisMAC application is one option you can try.


KisMAC is an open-source tool that runs on the Mac operating system. It serves a number of functions related to WiFi networks. You can use it as a stumbler to help you locate nearby WiFi hotspots and obtain information regarding their security. The lack of security on a given network lets you directly join the network. If the network turns out to be secured by a password, the tool’s WiFi sniffing capabilities can help you crack the password if you so desire.

What is Network Security?

Network security tools

Wireless Network Defensive Tools

Defending a wireless network from attacks by unauthorized users often demands taking preventative measures to thwart their efforts. In many cases, the same tools used by hackers to attempt to subvert your security can be employed to strengthen the safety of your network.

Subjecting your network to an investigation and attempting to crack it will necessitate the use of the same tools that malicious intruders will be wielding. They will allow you to test the strength of your network security and identify flaws that need to be addressed. If you can break into your own network, rest assured, so can the hackers. Here are some tools that can help in that effort.

KisMac2 is an open-source, wireless network discovery tool developed for the Mac OS X operating system. It is a powerful app that can be used to crack WEP and WPA keys using brute force attacks and packet re-injection.


It can scan for networks in active or passive mode and can be helpful in identifying weaknesses in your WiFi network.

Aircrack enables you to identify weak points in your wireless network’s security. You can attempt to crack your encryption password and test the capabilities of your WiFi cards and drivers.


Replay attacks on your network and export packet data to text files for later analysis. It’s a versatile tool that can help prevent rogue access to your wireless network.

NetStumbler is a WiFi stumbler for Windows computers. It automatically scans for wireless networks as soon as launched and supports many available network cards. The free utility has an interface which is reminiscent of Windows Explorer making it easy to navigate.


It can help you find rogue access points and coverage issues with your WiFi network that need to be addressed to enhance security.

Hardware Tools for Wardriving

What is Wardriving?

Wardriving is commonly perpetrated by individuals driving around in a vehicle while using software and hardware that assists them in locating unsecured networks. The use of a vehicle is not required, and wardrivers can also scan for networks to attack when on foot, on a bicycle, or even by using aircraft. Whatever method of transportation is used, the goal is to secretly penetrate WiFI networks.

Hardware Tools for Wardriving

There are several hardware components that are required in order to practice wardriving.

A mobile device
You need a mobile computing platform in order to conduct wardriving activities. This includes laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other devices such as the Raspberry Pi. These perform overall management of the process and are used to subvert encryption.

Wireless network card and antenna
These are a critical part of the wardriving setup. The wardriver may use the card and antenna built into their mobile device or may opt for additional hardware in order to increase their scanning power. This component provides the ability to remotely monitor the discovered networks.

GPS system
The GPS system is used to determine the exact location of the WiFi routers that have been located. Many of the mobile devices used for wardriving have built-in GPS capabilities.

Software WiFi Sniffers

There are many different software applications that serve the purpose of WiFi sniffing. You can download these tools for just about any operating system. Some of these tools have advanced features that allow you to do more than just locate the nearest wireless network.

Tools such as Wireshark and Network Miner serve as WiFi sniffers for the Windows platform. Users can download tools such as aircrack-ng or Zanti to perform WiFi sniffing on an Android device. There are many applications that enable WiFi sniffing on a Mac as well. We are going to use a free WiFi sniffer named KisMAC to see how you go about capturing WiFi traffic.