I don't quite get the point of this. Basically any home or small buisness router is going to have a password or it's a public wifi hotspot anyway. Am I missing anything?
It's not to get into a network, it's just to list where they're at.. For points. Similar to internet points :). There's no hacking involved just nerds being nerds
The "What has this project been used for?" section in the wigle FAQ is not very compelling tbh. Now that most routers ship WPA-2 secured by default and you can find free wifi everywhere, I think the most valid use that remains is finding malicious networks. But it seems to me that by and large this is nerds doing free work for the people who use their data commercially which seems kind of anti-hacker.
Back in the day it was a way to capture a lot of handshakes from a lot of different WiFi networks, then offline and back home crack the passwords and get a growing list of networks you could get into.
But all that to say that hackers don’t exactly need a reason to have a hobby.
Passwords matter if your goal is to get free wifi. But wardriving can also scan for devices ... vulnerable/exploitable devices. It is not hard to track down specific vehicles and security systems, which are the first steps to all sorts of high end property crime.
The uuid for a tesla car's bluetooth is 0xFE96 or 0xFE97. Some targeted wardriving easily gives you the general location of every tesla in a neighbourhood, and then the phones that unlock them. Then you sniff the ssid from the phone, look it up in wigle, and you know exactly what car lives in what garage, along with where the phone is that can start said car. Wardriving isnt all about kids wanting free wifi.
