Penetration Testing mailing list archives
Re: Legality of WEP Cracking
From: Carl Livitt <carllivitt () yahoo com>
Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 21:34:21 +0100
On May 18, 2007, at 7:47 PM, Morning Wood wrote:The UK law is clear, I quote from the UK Computer Misuse Act 1990 (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1990/Ukpga_19900018_en_2.htm):from what I understand here in the US... "sniffing the air" is legal "connecting to an AP you do not have explicit permission" is illegal "possession of an access restriction device" eg: WEP key that you are not explicitly allowed permission is illegal capturing airborne packets "may" be legal, but the moment you begin to "try" to "crack" a WEP key, you would be entering access restriction device realm instantly. ( do not pass GO! ) , as well, simply connecting to your target AP is illegal from the get-go ( gimme your dice! ) but my understanding is only a perspective, which may or not be completely askew...How about this scenario. I am sitting in a Starbuck$ and am connected to the T-Mobile Wireless service. I start Wireshark and capture all the packets I am seeing from the WAP. Is this legal or illegal?
There are 2 answers: 1) Legal, because your wifi card has already captured the packets regardless of whether you're using software to save/process/display them. This applies to all wifi transmissions, encrypted or otherwise. It's the firmware/drivers/software that decide what happens to traffic that you have already intercepted whether you intended to or not. If you think about it, wifi networks couldn't work without this 'receive all frames/traffic by default' behaviour! 2) Illegal, for the exact same reasons as (1), above! Tricky ground, eh? Does anyone know of case law regarding this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This List Sponsored by: Cenzic Are you using SPI, Watchfire or WhiteHat? Consider getting clear vision with Cenzic See HOW Now with our 20/20 program! http://www.cenzic.com/c/2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current thread:
- Legality of WEP Cracking Richard Brinson (May 18)
- RE: Legality of WEP Cracking Shenk, Jerry A (May 18)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking crazy frog crazy frog (May 18)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking Tim Shea (May 18)
- RE: Legality of WEP Cracking Richard Brinson (May 18)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking crazy frog crazy frog (May 19)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking crazy frog crazy frog (May 18)
- RE: Legality of WEP Cracking Shenk, Jerry A (May 18)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking Morning Wood (May 18)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking DaKahuna (May 19)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking Carl Livitt (May 20)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking Justin Ferguson (May 21)
- RE: Legality of WEP Cracking Richard Brinson (May 23)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking Nick Selby (May 27)
- Re: Legality of WEP Cracking Nicholas Chapel (May 23)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: RE: Legality of WEP Cracking ebk_lists (May 18)
- RE: RE: Legality of WEP Cracking Erin Carroll (May 18)