Netstumbler (Part 1)

Network stumbler (NetStumbler) is a wireless LAN detection tool especially written for Windows operating system. It can detect IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11a networks. (commonly known as WiFi) Netstumbler is a popular war driving tool. (Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle using a laptop or PDA like tools.). Netstumbler can be also used for,

• Finding network configuration of the APs
• Finding signal strength of the APs
• Finding network congestion and interference (based on SSIDs, Channel etc.)
• Finding possible rogue access points
• Wardriving

While setting up wireless network, it’s very difficult to find poor areas of coverage, with the help of Netstrumble you can find out those areas. Also you can find the possible un-authorized access points based on signal strength. To perform such operations, you have to walk around your office with the laptop with Netstumbler. From the variations recorded in signal strength you can guess the presence of un-authorized/ Rogue APs in your premises.

Netstumbler displays the list of Access Points in the vicinity of it but, it cannot detect stations and their associations with these access points. For finding APs, Netstumbler sends Null probe requests. APs respond to these probe requests and netstumbler captures those probe responses for creating AP records. Since wireless stations will not respond for these probe requests, they cannot be detected by Netstumbler, but it can detect adhoc stations.

It runs on Microsift Windows operating system from windows 98 up to windows XP and under compatibility mode in windows vista. The handheld version of Netstumbler is also available, called Ministumbler.

This video explains the usage of Netstumbler. The visual display of Netstumbler divides the screen in to two vertical parts, the right hand side part shows the list of APs and their configuration details while left part shows the simple analysis for finding interference etc. This video mainly deals with AP configurations.

Enable Javascript or Download Flash Playe if you see this!

 

We hate these ADs as much as you do! Help us stay FREE and CLEAN by making a Generous Donation!

Links

1. Download NetStumbler

2. Netstumbler forums

3. Netstumbler official website

4. Alternatives to Netstumbler (Videos for these tools… coming soon)

Amit Vartak, 27 is working in wired and wireless security fields since last 3-4 years. His current area of interest includes IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) suite of protocols, vulnerabilities in these protocols and countermeasure for those vulnerabilities. Working on cutting edge tools and technology always keeps him busy. He has contributed from concept level to final prototyping for the presentations in Defcon 2007 (The Emperor Has No Cloak - WEP Cloaking Exposed) and Toorcon 2007 (Caffe latte attack). He holds 2 patents with USPTO (current status: Patent Pending) and a few papers in IEEE journals on wireless protocol vulnerabilities. Prior to this, he was working on MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) and has published a few papers in SPIE and ICMAT. (Yeah… kindda orthogonal fields… but technology really doesn’t limit the talent :) He did his masters in Electrical Engineering from one of the premier institutes in India, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-Bombay) and his under graduation, from University of Mumbai in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. He is currently working with AirTight Networks Inc. as a team lead in technology group since last 3 years.You can get in touch with him at amitcv[at]gmail[dot]com