Forget Airsnort. That is primarily a tool for cracking weak WEP encryption. You will likely RARELY find a weak-encrypted network these days. You either find MANY with no obvious encryption (they may be using some other means like ssh, ssl, VPN, etc, which makes getting in REAL unlikely) or you can just connect because there is absolutely no control at all.


I use kismet. Check it out. Produces a VERY nice konsole information output. It also logs everything for analysis - you can open the dump file in ethereal and peruse at your leisure. With the kismet up and running, you get a list of network names, whether or not WEP is used, if the system is an Access Point or an adhoc setup, whether or not dhcp is used, what the IP address range is, whether or not it is weak encryption (40 bit), what chanel it is on, what sort of activity is on the network (count of data packets being sent vs simply LLC broadcast packets). It also logs cisco packets and provides a log of weak packets alone (never seen it pick any up because most people have gotten off 40 bit) and a simple readable list of networks: their names/ssid, channel, mac address of the AP or adhoc station. Real nifty app. I use it with a netgear MA401 (sucky card) and my Zoomair connected to a parabolic or other homemade directional antenna (nice card).

Kismet is at:
http://www.kismetwireless.net

You can also look for prismsnort, which combines the functions of prismdump and airsnort. The console screen is identical to that of airsnort (not much info compared to kismet) and it produces an ethereal-friendly dump as well - and can crack weak WEP networks too.