Wireless / WiFi cards / adapters for cracking (which one?)
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:51 pm
Here i will talk about wireless adapters that can or cannot be used to crack wireless networks. First of, aircrack-ng seem to be only good tool that can do the job, however there are few others, even windows based.
Most important is that aircrack does not care about the adapter / card itself, it only cares about the chipset it uses. for example there are many companys who make wireless cards, but chipset can be same or different. so adapter model says nothing.
Here are chipsets i have used myself to successfully crack wireless network:
RTL8185 (realtek something, cant remember card name, all 3 PCI)
zd1211 (card is A-LINK USB)
AR9271 (card is TP-Link TL-WN722NC USB)
RaLink (dont know the exact chipset, card is Edimax)
and few other zd and RTL chipsets i cannot remember.
these are the ones i have used myself, lets talk about them little bit.
RTL chipset is good, however the latest ones are not as good as old ones. ive had 3 cards with RTL chipsets, one of them is in my other pc that is RTL8185 and it works just fine. very good choice if you ask me.
zd1211 (zydas chipset) is good to go, but it fails a lot. It isn't very good. i've had 2 of them, both almost identical cards, one had antenna built in, other had a socket for external antenna. both failing time to time, but will do the job. both cards said A-LINK on them.
AR9271 (card is TP-Link TL-WN722NC USB). I just got this one today and it seems very good. it uses AR (Atheros) chipset that is recommended by many ppl who have experience in cracking, this is why i chose to get this one. It's everything you want:
- usb (so it can be used with any laptop or pc)
- it has antenna socket so you can use some good antenna, like i have 24dbi grid antenna which can be used outdoors in open areas, range 3miles or so (comes with 2dbi antenna)
- it has USB stand / docking station for the USB stick. You can connect it normally or with the extension.
- finally it's very cheap compared to some other cards.
RaLink is what im using currently in my primary pc. Card is is Edimax (cant remember model). i would stay away from it if i would have to buy card for cracking. It worked once, but then drivers messed up and now injection doesn't work. It has capabilites to crack a network, but i don't recommend. i haven't tried it with backtrack 5 tho. it might work well, but my experience on uBuntu was bad.
Best choice is that TP-Link card i mentioned. its definetly something you want if you are going to wardrive and warcrack wireless networks.
here's a picture of it (taken from amazon). note that it can be detached from the docking station and used as normal USB adapter.
Most important is that aircrack does not care about the adapter / card itself, it only cares about the chipset it uses. for example there are many companys who make wireless cards, but chipset can be same or different. so adapter model says nothing.
Here are chipsets i have used myself to successfully crack wireless network:
RTL8185 (realtek something, cant remember card name, all 3 PCI)
zd1211 (card is A-LINK USB)
AR9271 (card is TP-Link TL-WN722NC USB)
RaLink (dont know the exact chipset, card is Edimax)
and few other zd and RTL chipsets i cannot remember.
these are the ones i have used myself, lets talk about them little bit.
RTL chipset is good, however the latest ones are not as good as old ones. ive had 3 cards with RTL chipsets, one of them is in my other pc that is RTL8185 and it works just fine. very good choice if you ask me.
zd1211 (zydas chipset) is good to go, but it fails a lot. It isn't very good. i've had 2 of them, both almost identical cards, one had antenna built in, other had a socket for external antenna. both failing time to time, but will do the job. both cards said A-LINK on them.
AR9271 (card is TP-Link TL-WN722NC USB). I just got this one today and it seems very good. it uses AR (Atheros) chipset that is recommended by many ppl who have experience in cracking, this is why i chose to get this one. It's everything you want:
- usb (so it can be used with any laptop or pc)
- it has antenna socket so you can use some good antenna, like i have 24dbi grid antenna which can be used outdoors in open areas, range 3miles or so (comes with 2dbi antenna)
- it has USB stand / docking station for the USB stick. You can connect it normally or with the extension.
- finally it's very cheap compared to some other cards.
RaLink is what im using currently in my primary pc. Card is is Edimax (cant remember model). i would stay away from it if i would have to buy card for cracking. It worked once, but then drivers messed up and now injection doesn't work. It has capabilites to crack a network, but i don't recommend. i haven't tried it with backtrack 5 tho. it might work well, but my experience on uBuntu was bad.
Best choice is that TP-Link card i mentioned. its definetly something you want if you are going to wardrive and warcrack wireless networks.
here's a picture of it (taken from amazon). note that it can be detached from the docking station and used as normal USB adapter.