Wardriving / Wireless Security question?

Question

I have been studying wardriving and wireless security for education purposes, but there is one seemingly simple thing that I have not been able to find the answer to anywhere.

From what I understand, many routers have a default password, and there are plenty of lists of default passwords available. However, I have not been able to figure out how to log in with a default password.

For example, say there is a router broadcasting its ssid as linksys, one would assume that it is a linksys router with a default admin/admin password. However, how would one go about actually accessing this router?

When typing in the IP address of the router, wouldn't that have to be done from a computer that is actually connected to the network. Like you would have to connect to an open network first and then access the router?

If this is indeed the case, is it possible to access a router that is running wep encryption, or would that have to be bypassed first?

Answer 1

You have to type the ip address. Usually it's 192.168.0.1 or 0.100 one of those.

Answer 2

1. Connect to the router that is broadcasting
2. Open an internet browser
3. Type 192.168.0.1 in the address bar and hit the enter key

if the IP above does not work, check the IP you got from the router (right click on the LAN connection icon in the taskbar, click status on the menu and support on the tab). Then use the first 3 IP quadrants and a 1 at the end.
example: you were givin 192.168.2.134 by the router's DHCP server. follow steps one and two above but use 192.168.2.1 as the address for step 3

Answer 3

Connect to the access point you are interested in, then

Type in 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 in the address window of any browser. How hard have you been studying? ; )

You can forget about getting into a router that is using encryption. That would definitely be illegal if you even could access it. It is debatable if you access a wifi access point that is open by accident and is not yours, as to the ethics and legality of doing so.

Answer 4

Hello, if you know the SSID and its the default ssid probably the user got DHCP to so just put in ssid and connect=)