Sniffing Wireless internet broadband connection (USB Modem)

[girishhacks]

Hi ,

I have trouble sniffing wireless usb modem , it doesn't seem to have this facility in wireshark .
Please let me know how i can proceed with sniffing through wireless usb modems..??

Thanx & Regards ,

Girish

[Goatboy]

Your card has to support promiscuous mode, also known as monitor mode. This allows it to view all traffic regardless of whether it was destined for you, by essentially ignoring the MAC address in the header. Without this, you can only view your own traffic.

[Reason7194]

Quick question, I am buying a new card soon (the old one just stopped working well) and I was wondering if the wireless card box will say something along the lines of "supports monitor mode". If not, what do i look for?

[Goatboy]

Unless the card was made specifically for that purpose, I doubt it. Most cards will say things like "Up to 1,000 foot range!", "Supports a, b, g, n; the whole god-damn alphabet!" or "Makes your hair grow!". You know, things consumers care about.

I would recommend looking at the aircrack HCL and picking a card from there. I have had excellent results from the ALFA AWUS036H, and I got it last year at DefCon on-site for about $45. And that price was jacked up because it was at the convention. You can probably get it online, including shipping, for around $40.

[Reason7194]

Just confirming that this is the right product. And since I am not savy on hardware, i am going to ask some questions.
I was reading some reviews, and found that everyone said it was a booster to receive signal better, would this replace my current wireless card? Or will it just boost it's reception. Does this support monitor mode? And if so, how would I look at another product and figure out if it did or not.

The product on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/AWUS036H-Wireless-Adapter-Network-Antenna/product-reviews/B000QYGNKQ/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Slight update: Went to the aircrack ng website, thanks for the resource.

[Goatboy]

That's another card entirely, not just a signal booster. This means you will have two interfaces running instead of just one. It supports monitor mode and packet injection, both of which are invaluable in wireless hacking. The range is pretty good as well, due to the antenna. It works out of the box on most Linux distros, but running it on Windows might be a tad difficult as the CD that is used to install drivers is a bit shoddy.

[mShred]

Well if you wanna go with Amazon, here.
That one should be good. I bought one from there not that long ago. Yes it supports promiscuous mode. Yes it supports packet injection. In other words, you can have all the fun cracking WEP keys you need. If that's what you're looking for.