Out of the box and into the ether
Hurley is a wardriver — a tech geek who, as a hobby, loads a laptop, a network detector and a GPS locator into his 1994 Mustang GT and roams the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, sniffing the air for unprotected wireless computer networks. He doesn’t connect to the networks he finds (that’s illegal), he just makes a note of them and their security settings.
This summer Hurley and a group of some 600 like-minded wardrivers sniffed out and mapped 228,537 wireless networks in 41 states, 17 countries and 4 continents, in an eight-day “Worldwide War Drive” (WWWD). It was the fourth in a series of worldwide efforts Hurley has organized to raise awareness of vulnerable wireless networks. He’s also written a book on the subject, called “Drive, Detect, Defend: A Guide to Wireless Security.”
CNN.com – Out of the box and into the ether – Oct 18, 2004