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.)

Comments

Sorry, had to be asked

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

I can haz internetz?

Re:Sorry, had to be asked

[penguinoid]

There's no pussyfooting around the security implications. This, more than ever, proves that security is a cat-and-mouse game. The script kitties will be all over this -- they'll milk it for all it's worth.

Open WiFi

[TechyImmigrant]

If people just left their WiFi open, it wouldn't be called a vulnerability, it would be called ubiquitous connectivity.

Easily-broken WEP security

[ArcadeMan]

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.

Shades of the 1960's CIA "Acoustic kitty"

[innocent_white_lamb]

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...

Re:Shades of the 1960's CIA "Acoustic kitty"

[ColdWetDog]

No, the truth is that there are a couple of folks who split 25 million dollars and one squashed cat intermixed with some random electronic parts.

Re:Shades of the 1960's CIA "Acoustic kitty"

[Austerity Empowers]

That's what they want you to think. The truth is that there is now an entire army of CIA spy cats.

You must not be a cat owner. The real truth, the truth they don't want anyone to know, is that the CIA, NSA, FBI, KGB, IRS, and especially the DMV, are entirely run by cats. That acoustic cat was actually a senior agent, trusted with testing a next gen prototype. He was not "run over by a car", he was assassinated by an enemy agent. That thing cats do in the middle of the night, where they charge around the house as if an axe murderer were on a spree? That is spy versus spy warfare, your cat saved your life. There's a war going on, a war most of us never see, and it rages under your bed, on your kitchen counters, even on top of your refrigerator.

The NSA isn't so much monitoring your email to see what dirty emails you send each other, they're looking for coded messages from field agents as they "walk across the keyboard". They no longer need acoustic agents, the agents are simply embedded everywhere, and they are always watching. It sounds as if this Snowden person has altered the communications flow, necessitating another field trial of a more "cat in the middle" interception plan. War kitteh is a hero.

 

I initially thought that ...

[MacTO]

... 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.

Why?

[sycodon]

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?

Re:Why?

[Phics]

It's kind of like giving the Coke machine down the hall an IP address with sensors.... 'why' becomes such an unimaginative and mundane question in such scenarios, and if pressed, can simply be answered with, "Because I can."

Re:Overstating cat's role?

[MacTO]

Cats can wander around without arousing much suspicion. In residential areas, that includes going into front and back yards. In commercial areas, that includes going into secured lots. In that respect, cats would be able to perform better. Of course, that leaves the issue of getting cats to explore areas that you're interested in in the first place.

WarKitteh?

[NotSoHeavyD3]

So "Cat Scan" was too bad of a pun?

Re:Overages and legal liability

[penguinoid]

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".

When someone does the same over your secured connection, either because you shared your password with the wrong friends, someone guessed your password, or you got hacked, good luck explaining to a jury that it's possible for others to use your secured connection.

Re:This seems pointless

[Sobrique]

Secure sites will get upset if you drive a car through them. Cats they're much less likely to make a fuss about...