2015 PiFi Analyser MASON MCCALLUM, NATHAN VAZ AND TIMOTHY LY NORTHERN SYDNEY INSTITUTE | Meadowbank Executive summary Wireless networks have become more prevalent in contemporary society, as such it is important to accurately study the impact that wireless networking can have on personal security and privacy. The PiFi Analyser project outlines the methods behind passively recording wireless networks and mapping the recorded data with associated GPS location data. The ensuing report confirms the methodologies and technologies proposed can operate to scopes that could be used to significant effect. 1 | P a g e Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Method ................................................................................................................................................... 9 Building the Device ............................................................................................................................. 9 Testing device ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Map plotting ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Choosing test Locations .................................................................................................................... 10 Location Monitoring ......................................................................................................................... 10 Rationale behind time and location choices ..................................................................................... 11 Mason McCallum .......................................................................................................................... 11 Nathan Vaz .................................................................................................................................... 11 Timothy Ly ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Hardware List ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Raspberry Pi 2 Model B ..................................................................................................................... 12 GPS Receiver BU353S4 ...................................................................................................................... 12 High gain Wi-Fi Alfa AWUS051NH..................................................................................................... 12 USB Battery Pack ............................................................................................................................... 12 Micro-SD card ................................................................................................................................... 12 Budget ............................................................................................................................................... 13 Software Tools List ................................................................................................................................ 14 airmon-ng .......................................................................................................................................... 14 airodump-ng ..................................................................................................................................... 14 ntpd ................................................................................................................................................... 14 gpsd ................................................................................................................................................... 14 cgps ................................................................................................................................................... 15 2 | P a g e Google Earth ..................................................................................................................................... 16 giskismet ........................................................................................................................................... 17 Workable Procedure ............................................................................................................................. 18 Setting up the Raspberry Pi .............................................................................................................. 19 Converting netxml files to kml .......................................................................................................... 23 Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................................... 24 Results ................................................................................................................................................... 25 Discussion.............................................................................................................................................. 26 Observations ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 31 References ............................................................................................................................................ 32 3 | P a g e Introduction The use of the internet in Australia is one of the largest per capita growth sectors among developed nations. With broadband connections at home increasing to 81% from 74% over the course of one year (June 2013 to June 2014) (ACMA pg 35), as well as a higher percentage of users accessing the internet from a mobile device; 70% from 62% over the same time period, the use of wireless networks by Australians will likely continue to rise, especially when the same report shows that “approximately half of all Australian homes had more than five devices connected to the internet via a home network of all devices connected to a home network, 82 per cent were connected via Wi-Fi, while only 14% used wired technology only.” (ACMA pg 40). From these Australian consumer trends, we can extrapolate that the general population’s desire for internet access regardless if they are connecting to a trusted network or not i.e. public Wi-Fi. This practice could lead to potential digital harm such as contracting malware, identity theft and impacted performance among others. However the issue that this project aims to identify is the physical security associated with owning a mobile device. As mobile device (smartphones, laptops and tablets) ownership among adults nears saturation in Australia, it is safe to assume that the physical presence of an individual can be linked to the physical presence of their devices. This project will endeavour to show just how vulnerable the wider community is to detection, simply through connecting to a wireless access point. The potential abilities of our project could impact the way public networks are monitored by third parties as well as the security auditing capabilities available through measuring the security levels and traffic of various wireless networks over time. 4 | P a g e Literature Review The inspiration for the project methodology came from a practice called Wardriving, whereby individuals would drive around in cars and scan wireless networks passing by. A persistent notion about the original process which irked us was the requirement for a laptop with a Wi-Fi antenna really made the operation a little too conspicuous, as well as the need to conduct the scanning from a car. The idea for a more portable scanning apparatus was founded from the necessity to scan areas that a car might not be able to reach i.e. a shopping centre, range-restrictive apartment blocks, stadiums etc. Upon further research, we came across a project conducted by Sophos which had implemented aspects of our project idea, even using a raspberry pi hardware platform, they presented a corporate-quality level project called Warbiking (Sophos.com, 2015). The central focus of the Sophos feature involves their Raspberry Pi-based device attached to a bicycle and ridden around various cities gathering wireless network information and presenting their findings. These findings include the levels of security implemented throughout their bicycle scanning paths such as whether WEP, WPA or WPA2 types of encryption are being utilised. The most helpful source of research into this sort of project has been a white paper published by the SANS Institute in which a similar project featuring a Raspberry Pi-based Wardriving