Justice is truth in action.

Benjamin Disraeli

The truth has never been that close before. More and more people are using wireless. Take an action, use eTrace tools and services to catch criminals. Let there be justice.

Research activity:

Dictionary attack doubts:

People ask us if dictionary attack is enough to crack WLAN encryption. Everybody knows WPA/WPA2 passwords can be 63 characters long and can contain all keyboard characters including special symbols, lower and upper cases, numbers etc. It means there exist more than 100 to the power of 63 combinations. It gives 1,e+126.

Do we really need to check all the possible combinations? It would take centuries even on the strongest machines!
Statistics shows how people are lazy. They usually use passwords built from lower case letters (like monica). In some cases passwords are made of alphanumeric (Monica2001) or are just numeric characters (9112001). The following figures indicates these are around 90% of all passwords that all people use. The other cases such as 'Monica%$2001' are uncommon. Lets have a look at some numbers:

The statistics comes from 10 000 password which were stolen from Windows Live Hotmail service in 2009.

The list contained:

10 028 entries from which 9 843 were valid passwords,
8931 (90%) were unique passwords, which means 10% were recurring,
30 characters long password was the longest password,
1 character long was the shortest one.

Top 20 most common passwords:

1.123456 - 64
2.123456789 - 18
3.alejandra - 11
4.111111 - 10
5.alberto - 9
6.tequiero - 9
7.alejandro - 9
8.12345678 - 9
9.1234567 - 8
10. estrella - 7
11. iloveyou - 7
12. daniel - 7
13. 000000 - 7
14. roberto - 7
15. 654321 - 6
16. bonita - 6
17. sebastian - 6
18. beatriz - 6
19. mariposa - 5
20. america - 5

Password length distribution:

1 chars - 2 - 0 %
2 chars - 4 - 0 %
3 chars - 4 - 0 %
4 chars - 31 - 0 %
5 chars - 49 - 1 %
6 chars - 1946 - 22 %
7 chars - 1254 - 14 %
8 chars - 1838 - 21 %
9 chars - 1091 - 12 %
10 chars - 772 - 9 %

11 chars - 527 - 6 %
12 chars - 431 - 5 %
13 chars - 290 - 3 %
14 chars - 219 - 2 %
15 chars - 157 - 2 %
16 chars - 190 - 2 %
17 chars - 56 - 1 %
18 chars - 17 - 0 %
19 chars - 7 - 0 %
20 chars - 14 - 0 %
21 chars - 10 - 0 %
22 chars - 8 - 0 %
23 chars - 3 - 0 %
24 chars - 3 - 0 %
25 chars - 3 - 0 %
26 chars - 0 - 0 %
27 chars - 3 - 0 %
28 chars - 0 - 0 %
29 chars - 1 - 0 %
30 chars - 1 - 0 %

Passwords on the list?:

3,713 = 42 %; lower alpha passwords ('a' to 'z')

Example : monica

291 = 3 %; mixed case alpha passwords ('a' to 'z' and from 'A' to 'Z')

Example: Monica

1707 = 19 %; numeric passwords ('0' to '9')

Example: 9112001

2655 = 30 %; mixed alpha and numeric passwords ('a'-'z', 'A'-'Z' and '0'-'9')

Example: Monica2001

565 = 6 %; mixed alpha + numeric + other characters.

Example: Monica%$2001

All the statistics come from http://www.acunetix.com/blog/websecuritynews/statistics-from-10000-leaked-hotmail-passwords/, acunetix, Bogdan Calin, October 6, 2009

Essid statistics

SSID	Total	Percent
<no ssid>	1941732	9.823%
linksys	1736107	8.783%
default	539501	2.729%
NETGEAR	483307	2.445%
Belkin54g	225019	1.138%
Wireless	199141	1.007%
no_ssid	197877	1.001%
hpsetup	148605	0.751%
WLAN	98576	0.498%
ACTIONTEC	81596	0.412%
home	77712	0.393%
DLINK	76277	0.385%
<hidden ssid>	72206	0.365%
Free Public WiFi	54627	0.276%
smc	48106	0.243%
MSHOME	42220	0.213%
Motorola	30930	0.156%
Philips WiFi	30783	0.155%
SITECOM	28932	0.146%
orange	27922	0.141%
tsunami	27552	0.139%
tmobile	25204	0.127%
hhonors	24769	0.125%
101	24548	0.124%
orange12	21948	0.111%
ZyXEL	21668	0.109%
USR8054	21485	0.108%
3Com	20989	0.106%
linksys-g	20081	0.101%
orange14	19511	0.098%
Wayport_Access	19043	0.096%
orange13	16838	0.085%
Guest	16411	0.083%
(null)	13974	0.070%
SpeedStream	13525	0.068%
Customer ID	13442	0.068%
HomeNet	12728	0.064%
attwifi	12668	0.064%
Wireless Network	12121	0.061%
ANY	10655	0.053%
FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7170	10487	0.053%
freephonie	10347	0.052%
SST-PR-1	10294	0.052%
ConnectionPoint	9806	0.049%
WLAN-AP	9543	0.048%
Office	8489	0.042%
WaveLAN Network	8278	0.041%
GlobalSuiteWireless	8125	0.041%
USR5461	7640	0.038%
FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7050	7296	0.036%
GoldenTree	7296	0.036%
pocwyg7swean	7212	0.036%
AMD_IBSS	7122	0.036%
Home Network	7044	0.035%
Thomson	6880	0.034%
airportthru	6654	0.033%
Internet	6464	0.032%
Gateway	6221	0.031%
megahoc.v22	6200	0.031%
eduroam	6101	0.030%
pi07490509x09	6078	0.030%
BTOpenzone	6056	0.030%
pi07490509x	6033	0.030%
<No current ssid>	5991	0.030%
Free Internet Access	5893	0.029%
concrete	5798	0.029%
eurospot	5630	0.028%
setup	5584	0.028%
DYNEX	5562	0.028%
WiFi	5518	0.027%
DV201AM	5473	0.027%
INTERMEC	5434	0.027%
FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7141	5405	0.027%
MSFTWLAN	5390	0.027%
G604T_WIRELESS	5311	0.026%
Airport	5280	0.026%
kabelinternet	5277	0.026%
ibahn	5235	0.026%
public	5192	0.026%
	5180	0.026%
PCX5000	5171	0.026%
Untitled	5083	0.025%
HOMENETWORK	5063	0.025%
Ethostream	4965	0.025%
megahoc	4901	0.024%
west	4808	0.024%
test	4807	0.024%
philips	4778	0.024%
188	4739	0.023%
NETWORK	4558	0.023%
SMARTSIGHT	4481	0.022%
Rebar	4407	0.022%
home wireless	4391	0.022%
dlink_wireless	4315	0.021%
TP-LINK	4292	0.021%
	4287	0.021%
Topcom	4269	0.021%
Neuf WiFi	4208	0.021%
IU Wireless	4167	0.021%
stayonline	4160	0.021%
D-LINK	4113	0.020%
188ALT	4109	0.020%
mobile	4103	0.020%
dd-wrt	4101	0.020%
buffalo	4065	0.020%
trendnet	4030	0.020%
david	4016	0.020%
mike	3974	0.020%
@home	3969	0.020%
Comcast	3959	0.020%
FRITZ!Box SL WLAN	3934	0.019%
hawking	3925	0.019%
ADSL-WiFi	3866	0.019%
john	3829	0.019%
linksys1	3815	0.019%
Thuis	3810	0.019%
Zoom	3763	0.019%
Blitzz	3738	0.018%
Private	3680	0.018%
bestbuy	3679	0.018%
ALICE-WLAN	3634	0.018%
Print Server	3603	0.018%
RGXLPQSNGBNYVRAK	3582	0.018%
GDS VCI 01	3541	0.017%
Speedport W 501V	3538	0.017%
conexant	3512	0.017%
House	3471	0.017%
Belkin	3466	0.017%
goesh	3441	0.017%
MIT	3419	0.017%
Netgear1	3396	0.017%
Chris	3354	0.016%
arescom	3343	0.016%
USR5462	3340	0.016%
router	3315	0.016%
laquinta	3279	0.016%
University of Washington	3266	0.016%
72653	3234	0.016%
megahoc.v24	3154	0.015%
matrix	3141	0.015%
Webstar	3133	0.015%
home1	3127	0.015%
Cox-Hospitality	3081	0.015%
workgroup	3073	0.015%
mywlan	3041	0.015%
megahoc.21	3029	0.015%
sonicwall	2975	0.015%
mynetwork	2961	0.014%
HomeWireless	2935	0.014%
home\wireless	2935	0.014%
WLCM	2930	0.014%
net	2914	0.014%
Michael	2902	0.014%
linksys2	2891	0.014%
USR9106	2882	0.014%
Verizon Wi-Fi	2871	0.014%
wirelesslan	2829	0.014%
NETGEAR_11g	2796	0.014%
HomeRun	2786	0.014%
steve	2779	0.014%
holidayinn	2767	0.013%
My Network	2755	0.013%
Skynet	2741	0.013%
DLinkVWR	2700	0.013%
FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN	2679	0.013%
HomeOffice	2658	0.013%
IBM	2637	0.013%
2WIRE631	2603	0.013%
osuwireless	2595	0.013%
bob	2585	0.013%
Smith	2567	0.012%
T-Mobile_T-Com	2537	0.012%
swisscom	2525	0.012%
PANERA	2520	0.012%
Scott	2519	0.012%
fanTM	2500	0.012%
mark	2496	0.012%
5ECUR3w3p5TOR3	2492	0.012%
James	2475	0.012%
Harvard University	2470	0.012%
Robert	2468	0.012%
MOBILE-EAPSIM	2463	0.012%
Wireless1	2454	0.012%
nomad5	2454	0.012%
TI-AR7WRD	2452	0.012%
non-specified SSID !!	2446	0.012%
MU-WIRELESS	2434	0.012%
Ativa54g	2374	0.012%
NESPOT	2372	0.012%
My Wireless Network A	2368	0.011%
flyingj	2362	0.011%
130	2351	0.011%
V1500	2339	0.011%
johnson	2333	0.011%
Guestnet	2329	0.011%
SiriCOMM	2297	0.011%
visitor	2296	0.011%
Virgin Broadband	2276	0.011%
vpnator	2274	0.011%
casa	2238	0.011%
DSLWLANModem200	2235	0.011%

Essid statistics come from wigle.net arkasha && bobzilla, data collected on 06.10.2010

Access points manufacturer statistics:

Manufacturer	Total	Percent
Linksys	2685384	13.586
D-Link	1307709	6.616
Cisco	1149191	5.814
Dell	887964	4.492
Netgear	794447	4.019
2wire	448317	2.268
Belkin	438999	2.221
Symbol	298837	1.511
Apple Computer	222267	1.124
Lucent	198858	1.006
Alpha Networks	197784	1.000
SMC	191997	0.971
Trend	184122	0.931
Intel	172729	0.873
Orinoco	165133	0.835
Askey	160102	0.810
Buffalo	145722	0.737
Agere	145717	0.737
Avaya	145717	0.737
Microsoft	117245	0.593
Proxim	113678	0.575
Airespace	111381	0.563
ANI	105272	0.532
3Com	89798	0.454
Aruba	76663	0.387
Yakumo	71709	0.362
US Robotics	68408	0.346
Senao	68187	0.344
Intel Corporation	67600	0.342
Apple	49800	0.251
Zyxel	48030	0.243
Repotec	45509	0.230
Colubris	43547	0.220
USRobotics	43162	0.218
ASUSTek Computer	42692	0.215
Compaq	41731	0.211
Ambit Microsystems	38537	0.194
Private	37301	0.188
Accton Technology	36991	0.187
Amit	34874	0.176
Motorala Bc	34214	0.173
Melco	33567	0.169
Sercomm	32539	0.164
Xavi Technology	30253	0.153
Farallon Communications	29883	0.151
3Com Europe	29855	0.151
Solomon	28768	0.145
Actiontec	25150	0.127
Tropos	24982	0.126
Usi	23956	0.121
Sonicwall	19992	0.101
Wistron NeWeb	17342	0.087
Philips	15863	0.080
Enterasys Networks	13795	0.069
Hewlett-Packard	13009	0.065
Compex	12949	0.065
Cc&C	11796	0.059
Edimax	11297	0.057
Entrasys	10737	0.054
Sweex	8440	0.042
Micro-Star	8226	0.041
Airvast	7759	0.039
Gateway2000	7207	0.036
Smartbridge	6526	0.033
Enterasys	6524	0.033
Lexmark International	6430	0.032
Compaq HP	5860	0.029
Xircom	5840	0.029
Nortel	5316	0.026
Sychip	5033	0.025
LeArtery	4905	0.024
Cabletron	4740	0.023
Hawking Technology	4658	0.023
BreezeCOM	4433	0.022
CNet Technology	4135	0.020
VTech	3943	0.019
GigaByte	3315	0.016
SOHOware	2967	0.015
Handlink	2503	0.012
Sena	2468	0.012
Rincon Networks	2399	0.012
Sony	2346	0.011
HP	1841	0.009
Fujitsu	1649	0.008
Tellus Group	1429	0.007
IPOne	1011	0.005
Addtron	991	0.005
Tellus	938	0.004
Ericsson	904	0.004
Ricoh	730	0.003
Tribe Computing	538	0.002
Surecom	518	0.002
Argus	500	0.002
Megadata	403	0.002
Locus	208	0.001
Netgear/Epigram	170	0.000
Xerox	164	0.000
OEM	106	0.000
Nexland	51	0.000
Unigraph	12	0.000
Cogent	7	0.000

AP manufacturer statistics come from wigle.net arkasha && bobzilla, data collected on 06.10.2010