How to Crack Wi-Fi PasswordsFor Beginners!

An internet connection has become a basic necessity in our modern lives. Wireles
s hot-spots (commonly known as Wi-Fi) can be found everywhere!
If you have a PC with a wireless network card, then you must have seen many netw
orks around you. Sadly most of these networks are secured with a network securit
y key.
Have you ever wanted to use one of these networks? You must have desperately wan
ted to check your mail when you shifted to your new house. The hardest time in y
our life is when your internet connection is down.
Cracking those Wi-Fi passwords is your answer to temporary internet access. This
is a comprehensive guide which will teach even complete beginners how to crack
WEP encrypted networks, easily.
Table of Contents
How are Wireless networks secured?
What you'll need
Setting up CommView for Wi-Fi
Selecting the target network and capturing packets
Waiting...
Now the interesting part... CRACKING!
Are you a visual learner?
How Are Wireless Networks Secured?
In a secured wireless connection, internet data is sent in the form of encrypted
packets. These packets are encrypted with network security keys. If you somehow
manage to get hold of the key for a particular wireless network you virtually h
ave access to the wireless internet connection
Broadly speaking there are two main types of encryptions used:
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy):
This is the most basic form of encryption. This has become an unsafe option as i
t is vulnerable and can be cracked with relative ease. Although this is the case
many people still use this encryption.
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access):
This is the more secure alternative. Efficient cracking of the passphrase of suc
h a network requires the use of a wordlist with the common passwords. In other w
ords you use the old fashioned method of trial and error to gain access. Variati
ons include WPA-2 which is the most secure encryption alternative till date. Alt
hough this can also be cracked using a wordlist if the password is common, this
is virtually uncrackable with a strong password. That is, unless the WPA PIN is
still enabled (as is the default on many routers).
Hacking WEP passwords is relatively fast, so we'll focus on how to crack them fo
r this guide. If the only networks around you use WPA passwords, you'll want to
follow this guide on how to crack WPA WiFi passwords instead.
What You'll Need...
A compatible wireless adapter:
This is by far the biggest requirement.The wireless card of your computer has to
be compatible with the software CommVIew. This ensures that the wireless card c
an go into monitor mode which is essential for capturing packets.Click here to c
heck if your wireless card is compatible
CommView for Wi-Fi :
This software will be used to capture the packets from the desired network adapt
er.
Aircrack-ng GUI:
After capturing the packets this software does the actual cracking.Click here-Cl
ick here and download the software from the website.
A little patience is vital!!
Step 1: Setting Up CommView for Wi-Fi
Download the zip file of CommView for Wi-Fi from the website. Extract the file a
nd run setup.exe to install CommView for Wi-Fi. When CommView opens for the firs
t time it has a driver installation guide. Follow the prompts to install the dri
ver for your wireless card.
Run CommView for Wi-Fi.
Click the play icon on the top left of the application window.
Start scanning for wireless networks.
CommView now starts scanning for wireless networks channel by channel. After a f
ew minutes you will have a long list of wireless networks with their security ty
pe and signal. Now it is time to choose your target network
Step 2: Selecting the Target Network and Capturing Packets
A few things to keep in mind before choosing the target wireless network
This tutorial is only for WEP encrypted networks.
So make sure you select a network with WEP next to its name
Choose a network with the highest signal.
Each network will have its details in the right column.
Make sure the WEP network you are choosing has the least the least dB (decibel)
value.
Once you have chosen your target network,select it and click Capture to start ca
pturing packets from the desired channel.
Now you might notice that packets are being captured from all the networks in th
e particular channel. To capture packets only from the desired network follow th
e given steps.
Right click the desired network and click on copy MAC Address.
Switch to the Rules tab on the top.
On the left hand side choose MAC Addresses
Enable MAC Address rules
For 'Action' select 'capture' and for 'Add record' select 'both'.
Now paste the mac address copied earlier in the box below.
We need to capture only data packets for cracking. Hence select D on the bar at
the top of the window and deselect M (Management packets) and C (Control packets
).
Now you have to save the packets so that they can be cracked later. To do this-
Go to the logging tab on top and enable auto saving.
Set Maximum Directory Size to 2000
Set Average Log File Size to 20.
Step 3: Waiting...
Now the boring part- WAITING!
NOTE: The amount of time taken to capture enough data packets depends on the sig
nal and the networks usage. The minimum number of packets you should capture sho
uld be 100,000 for a decent signal.
After you think you have enough packets (at least 100,000 packets)
Go to the log tab and click on concatenate logs.
Select all the logs that have been saved.
Do not close CommView for Wi-Fi
Now navigate to the folder where the concatenated logs have been saved
Open the log file
Select File- Export -Wire shark tcpdump format and choose any suitable destinati
on.
This will save the logs with a .cap extension to that location
Now the Interesting Part... CRACKING!
Download Aircrack-ng and extract the zip file.
Open the folder and navigate to 'bin'.
Run Aircrack-ng GUI
Choose WEP
Open your .cap file that you had saved earlier.
Click Launch.
In the command prompt type in the index number of your target wireless network.
Wait for a while .If everything goes fine the wireless key will be shown.
You may also receive a request to try with more packets. In this case wait until
more packets have been captured and repeat the steps to be performed after capt
uring packets
BEST OF LUCK