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Researchers hack WiFi driver to breach laptop

June 24th, 2006 · No Comments


Security researchers have found a way to seize control of a laptop computer by manipulating wireless3.jpgbuggy code in the system’s wireless device driver. The hack will be demonstrated at the upcoming Black Hat USA 2006 conference during a presentation by David Maynor, a research engineer with Internet Security Systems and Jon Ellch, a student at the U.S. Naval postgraduate school in Monterey, California.

Device driver hacking is technically challenging, but the field has become more appealing in recent years, thanks in part to new software tools that make it easier for less technically savvy hackers, known as script kiddies, to attack wireless cards, Maynor said in an interview.

The two researchers used an open-source 802.11 hacking tool called LORCON (Loss of Radio Connectivity) to throw an extremely large number of wireless packets at different wireless cards. Hackers use this technique, called fuzzing, to see if they can cause programs to fail, or perhaps even run unauthorized software when they are bombarded with unexpected data. Researchers hack Wi-Fi driver to breach laptop | InfoWorld | News | 2006-06-21 | By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

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