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Connected Collar Lets Your Cat Do the War-Driving
MojoKid (1002251) writes "Security researcher Gene Bransfield, with the help of his wife's grandmother's cat, decided to see how many neighborhood WiFi access points he could map and potentially compromise. With a collar loaded with a Spark chip, a Wi-Fi module, a GPS module, and a battery, Coco the cat helped Gene identify Wi-Fi networks around the neighborhood and then reported back. The goal here is obvious: Discover all of the unsecured, or at least poorly-secured, wireless access points around the neighborhood. During his journey, Coco identified dozens of Wi-Fi networks, with four of them using easily-broken WEP security, and another four that had no security at all. Gene has dubbed his collar the "WarKitteh", and it cost him less than $100 to make. He admits that such a collar isn't a security threat, but more of a goofy hack. Of course, it could be used for shadier purposes." (Here's Wired's article on the connected cat-collar.)
I thought cats hating water?
I can haz internetz?
If people just left their WiFi open, it wouldn't be called a vulnerability, it would be called ubiquitous connectivity.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Sounds like the start of a problem written by someone why doesn't know the alphabet starts with A and B instead of C and G.
Came for scuba/sewer cat story, leaving disappointed.
Just because a lock is weak doesn't give you the right to break it and enter the place. That argument wouldn't stand in court for physical access, stop deluding yourself that you have the "right" to access WEP-secured networks.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
My cat particularly enjoys standing on the keyboard while I am attempting to write code, resulting in constructs such as:
for (int x=0; x<10; ++iaaqaaaqaaassssaqqaqaaaaddaqqqqaawa
Which doesn't even bloody compile.
Over $25 million dollars was spent to install a battery, transmitter and microphone into a cat, with an antenna in its tail.
They dropped the cat off to eavesdrop on two men in a park near the Soviet Embassy in Washington DC. The cat was hit and killed by a taxi while walking across the road.
The project was expensive, gruesome, and a failure. It was abandoned in 1967.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...
http://mentalfloss.com/article...
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
Apparently Coco the cat:
"reported back."
and
"identified dozens of Wi-Fi networks"
It seems Coco is doing far more than just walking around carrying the hardware. So, is Coco's performance better or worse than a human doing the same thing?
... this was the best argument that cats are smarter than dogs. You don't exactly see dogs running around neighbourhoods to hack networks after all.
Then I realized that this was just another script-kitty.
The goal here is obvious: Discover all of the unsecured, or at least poorly-secured, wireless access points around the neighborhood.
Here's what has to be asked...why? Any particular reason for wanting to know this?
Isn't that pretty much like going to all the front doors and checking to see if they are locked?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Welcome to 2002.
SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
Can we please rename war driving to something that better describes what it is? Like fat nerds looking for free wifi?
When someone uses your connection excessively in the opinion of your ISP, watch "an choice" become "an bill". Or when someone uses your connection for copyright infringement or child pornography, watch "an choice" become "an lawsuit" or "an criminal charge".
Looks like Timothy is trying to drown his cat.
Have gnu, will travel.
And not allowed to roam and kill songbirds.
This sounds like a modern cyber-warfare version of the Soviet anti-tank dogs or the American bat-bombs.
If a cat collar can sniff wifi, it can run an automated exploit script too.
It is war-prowling.
bravo monsieur. bravo!
That is exactly why you don't want to do that around my neighborhood. There are way too many cats and way too many wardriving dickheads.
So "Cat Scan" was too bad of a pun?
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Why not just throw your laptop in your car and do a few laps around your neighborhood? You could cover the same amount of area in half an hour that took the cat a week. It's not like the cat can get closer to networks than your car can, as most WAPs broadcast far enough to reach the road, not to mention the wifi adapter is more powerful and antenna is bigger on a laptop than on a cat collar contraption.
I understand that this is more of a proof-of-concept and a cool gadget to rig up, however if this gentleman is already into wardriving, then he's probably already mapped most of his neighborhood, and the information his cat obtained is nothing new.
In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
After the Cat gets tired of looking at Kitty-Porn using those unsecured Wi-Fi APs then it gets bored and goes hunting or something....
If cats are kept inside, how are my coyotes supposed to eat?
See subject-line above: Care to debate that? Cats stop them, dead. You're easy to outsmart & history (especially on rats and plagues) + facts (bird flu recently alone) back me. Go away, lowbrow. There is a reason both cats and dogs are so highly esteemed in human society for ages: They are our best friends. See many birdseed commercials on TV too? I don't. I do for cats and dogs though.
I no liek war divin. I hate teh watrs.
internet + cat = bandwidth mayhem
It has happened before.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
I'd be much more interested in what my cat does all day out there. Where does she go? Are there any GPS collars out there? Thought about using a Spot, but their recording intervals are too long (because they signal straight to a satellite). It's too big as well. There are some studies on this. Most (pet) cats don't seem to wander off too far from their reliable source of food. An eagle might be a better vehicle for a war-flying device!
I tried to put a WarKitteh collar on my cat, and she hissed at me, told me to go f**k myself, rolled over and started licking her butt...
Only loosely on-topic, but why is it socially acceptable for many cat owners to simply let them have the run of the neighborhood?
As a dog owner, I have to keep my dogs strictly controlled, but neighbor's cats will shit all over the place and cause my dogs to go nuts as it flaunts across the front porch.
Is it just because OMG DOG ATTACKS?
Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
A dog can cover more ground more quickly, and with a possiblity of some sort of repeatability.
I'm already able to destroy my neighbour's living room from across the street using only their cat and a laser-pointer...