WEP password can be easily cracked (in fact it’s 100% crackable) using BackTrack Linux. Actually it is only easy if your computer’s hardware (especially the wireless adapter) is compatible with BackTrack, running the correct commands plus the target is close enough so you can get a good signal strength. I’ve shown my brother that it can be done and recently he told me he purchased a device that can crack WEP. The device is easy enough to use without worrying about hardware compatibility and running the proper commands.
As far as I know, one of the easiest way to crack WEP is doing it in Windows using AirPCap together with Cain and Able software but AirPCap is very expensive and cannot be found in Malaysia. So I went and check out the device sold in Lelong.com.my (a Malaysian auction website) which cost around US$80 and bought it out of curiosity.
When I got the device, the image below is how it looks like and everything is in Chinese! Heck I’m a Chinese and I can speak a couple of Chinese dialects fluently but embarrassingly I can’t read Chinese characters 😛
Doesn’t really matter because the menu only has a couple of selections and I can navigate around with the arrow keys and the center OK button. From the manual, I found out that this device that can crack WEP password is actually a wireless router!
As a test, I set the WEP password in my router as 1234567890 with 64bit encryption.
By selecting the third option in the device menu, the LCD screen shows Scanning Aps… After about a minute, a list of detected access points are shown. Simply select an access point with WEP and pressing the OK button, ANTCOR will start sniffing and collect IVs. When AntCor is placed near my wireless router, it manage to crack the 10 character WEP password within a few minutes after collected a few millions IVs.
For testing purposes, I tried sniffing other wireless access points but was unable to crack probably due to low signal strength.
Bad
1. Very slow (requires millions of IVs)
2. Requires decent wireless signal strength.
3. Everything in Chinese
4. Powers only by AC (would be nice if I can use battery)Good
1. Affordable (I won’t say cheap because BackTrack is free)
2. Easy to use (plug andplaycrack)
For experienced computer users, they are better off with BackTrack but for basic computer users that don’t even know how to boot up a computer with a linux live disc, ANTCOR would probably make them feel l33t (a hacker slang for “Elite”).