Toronto, Canada

10-11-2001

Anyone playing up North? Especially in the Toronto area? I find myself flying in there occasionaly.

John K.

10-12-2001

I've done some small surveys here in Toronto, waiting for my Orinoco to come in the mail so I can hook up an external antenna...

Adam

10-29-2001

I've done some more surveying in Toronto. Very surprising results.

Anyone else doing this in Toronto? If so check out Yonge/Bloor, it appears there are at least 4 competing APs there with open access

Adam

10-30-2001

Hey Adam. Would you be willing to share your scans? I have a couple small scans from around the Burlington area I can send you plus some contact info of other interested Toronto people.

If you can send the info to johnk@whitehatinc.com relatively soon. :-)

Thanks.

John K.

02-09-2002

I'm looking to by an external yagi for my orinoco card. Anyone know any antenna dealers in the Toronto area. I'd rather not order from the US and have to pay for shipping!?

Mike

02-14-2002

I'm looking at doing some stumbling in the Mississauga and GTA. Should be ordering the wireless card tomorrow.

Will the Orinoco USB Gold work fine with NS??

Thanks and happy stumbling!

03-02-2002

I use an orinoco silver PCMCIA card and it works great. Drive by on Matheson from Dixie to Eglinton. There is plenty of interesting points there, especially at Dixie and Matheson.

03-10-2002

Been working in wireless networking since before the 802.11b standard was enacted, using Aironet 4800 series ap's and cards. Be careful! Some of those systems you're finding might be mine!

fitzStewart

03-15-2002

I recently did some experimenting to see what the wireless situation was in Toronto. Since I was going shopping downtown and had to take my laptop with, I figured that I would not power it down and left it running in my bag with the NetStumbler program activated. There was no external antenna used and the bag probably detracted even more from range / SNR.

After taking the King streetcar to get downtown, I did a lot of walking through the busiest sections of Front Street and Yonge Street and even an office tower and the Eaton Centre.

Here are the results of my experiment:
Time Active: ~ 4.5 hours (recharged laptop's battery over lunch)
WiFi Networks found: 92
Networks without WEP: 51 (55% of total)
Networks with WEP: 41 (45% of total)
Best SNRs from no-WEP networks: 46,35,31
Least secure AP: Linksys - 17 instances (33% of unprotected)
"Bad" SSIDs: 20 (39% of unprotected)

Some notes:
The Eaton Centre seems to have a large number of WiFi networks and at least 10 are not using WEP.
Linksys seems to be the most "unsecure" brand of AP (perhaps due to their default "linksys" SSID and no WEP enabled by default).
Many networks use easy to guess SSIDs such as "default", "linksys" or even their company name (at least a few did the latter).

Overall, most people just don't seem to care about securing their networks even with decidedly flimsy WEP encryption. However, my estimated rate (55%) is a little better than the 60%-70% rate of no-WEP networks others have reported from their tests.

03-27-2002

Fitz, sounds good. I'll take it easy on your networks. ;-)

If you ever drive by Woodbine Center, Etobicoke you'll find my network (SSID: Stumbler_Rules).

03-27-2002

Driving around TO (more specifically north west) I see a large number of high gain (parabolic and flat pannel) antennas pointing towards the CN tower. I'm begining to think there is some sort of 802.11 high speed internet access going on. Anyone have any more information?

04-02-2002

Running Kismet now instead of NetStumbler (RF Monitor Mode picks up way more stuff) around Toronto.

Suprising # of APs are found off the 401 Westbound (drove out to Oakville last week, with Orinoco Range Extender on the dashboard).

Looks like the MTO has some 802.11b stuff, with and without WEP enabled. Also, several trucking/transport companies. It's funny how many of them tend to put the company name/phone #/fax # in the AP name or SSID.

Also, Eglinton just east of Yonge has a large AP concentration, at least 10 that I can find.

04-09-2002

Michael,

I suspect there are a lot of stuff going on on the Tower - it's a great location.

Look Communications had there AP on the CN Tower - it used to be (and may still be) the only Toronto AP.

GNUbie
Mississauga

04-09-2002

Hi all:

Well, there's at least two wireless ISPs in Toronto now.

Can't remember the second one, but the first one is
called "Whip the Web!"

They're on the web if you search for 'em.

You may also want to check out the Toronto Wireless Community Network for some info. They have some suggested setups for low-cost APs, as they're trying to create a City-wide public access free network. Their site documents some of the APs already open for free acess!

Just out of curiosity, what are you guys using for antennae?

Thanks

Shplad

04-11-2002

Here's my current setup if anyone's curious:

- Compaq 1500c notebook (not small and not light but durable, and runs OpenBSD/Linux/Win9x)

- Orinoco Silver + Lucent Range Extender antenna

- Cisco Aironet 350 (100mw tx)

- Cisco diversity antenna (dual RP-TNC jacks, with dual cables that go to the two connectors on the Cisco card)

- Cisco mini antenna (for stealth usage)

What I'd really love to get ahold of is a Toshiba Libretto or similar - something tiny, with PCMCIA slots. These machines are still way too expensive though (even the P75 goes for alot of $$ on Ebay!)

By the way, since I last posted, I've found several LARGE companies with wide open WLANs around North Toronto. A few even happily give out a DHCP address on the corporate LAN, with no packet filter or anything in front of it. As a security professional, this just makes me sad. I'm tempted to contact the CEO/Network Admins anonymously and give them this info.

10-11-2001	#1 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Toronto Ontario? Anyone playing up North? Especially in the Toronto area? I find myself flying in there occasionaly. John K.

10-12-2001	#2 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Toronto.. I've done some small surveys here in Toronto, waiting for my Orinoco to come in the mail so I can hook up an external antenna... Adam

10-29-2001	#3 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Toronto... I've done some more surveying in Toronto. Very surprising results. Anyone else doing this in Toronto? If so check out Yonge/Bloor, it appears there are at least 4 competing APs there with open access Adam

02-09-2002	#5 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Toronto, Ontario I'm looking to by an external yagi for my orinoco card. Anyone know any antenna dealers in the Toronto area. I'd rather not order from the US and have to pay for shipping!? Mike

02-14-2002	#6 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Toronto, Ontario I'm looking at doing some stumbling in the Mississauga and GTA. Should be ordering the wireless card tomorrow. Will the Orinoco USB Gold work fine with NS?? Thanks and happy stumbling!

10-30-2001	#4 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Hey Adam. Would you be willing to share your scans? I have a couple small scans from around the Burlington area I can send you plus some contact info of other interested Toronto people. If you can send the info to johnk@whitehatinc.com relatively soon. :-) Thanks. John K.

03-02-2002	#7 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	I use an orinoco silver PCMCIA card and it works great. Drive by on Matheson from Dixie to Eglinton. There is plenty of interesting points there, especially at Dixie and Matheson.

03-10-2002	#8 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Wireless in TO Been working in wireless networking since before the 802.11b standard was enacted, using Aironet 4800 series ap's and cards. Be careful! Some of those systems you're finding might be mine! fitzStewart

03-15-2002	#9 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Scan Results I recently did some experimenting to see what the wireless situation was in Toronto. Since I was going shopping downtown and had to take my laptop with, I figured that I would not power it down and left it running in my bag with the NetStumbler program activated. There was no external antenna used and the bag probably detracted even more from range / SNR. After taking the King streetcar to get downtown, I did a lot of walking through the busiest sections of Front Street and Yonge Street and even an office tower and the Eaton Centre. Here are the results of my experiment: Time Active: ~ 4.5 hours (recharged laptop's battery over lunch) WiFi Networks found: 92 Networks without WEP: 51 (55% of total) Networks with WEP: 41 (45% of total) Best SNRs from no-WEP networks: 46,35,31 Least secure AP: Linksys - 17 instances (33% of unprotected) "Bad" SSIDs: 20 (39% of unprotected) Some notes: The Eaton Centre seems to have a large number of WiFi networks and at least 10 are not using WEP. Linksys seems to be the most "unsecure" brand of AP (perhaps due to their default "linksys" SSID and no WEP enabled by default). Many networks use easy to guess SSIDs such as "default", "linksys" or even their company name (at least a few did the latter). Overall, most people just don't seem to care about securing their networks even with decidedly flimsy WEP encryption. However, my estimated rate (55%) is a little better than the 60%-70% rate of no-WEP networks others have reported from their tests.

03-27-2002	#10 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Fitz, sounds good. I'll take it easy on your networks. ;-) If you ever drive by Woodbine Center, Etobicoke you'll find my network (SSID: Stumbler_Rules).

03-27-2002	#11 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Large Number of High Gain Antennas Driving around TO (more specifically north west) I see a large number of high gain (parabolic and flat pannel) antennas pointing towards the CN tower. I'm begining to think there is some sort of 802.11 high speed internet access going on. Anyone have any more information?

04-02-2002	#12 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Toronto Running Kismet now instead of NetStumbler (RF Monitor Mode picks up way more stuff) around Toronto. Suprising # of APs are found off the 401 Westbound (drove out to Oakville last week, with Orinoco Range Extender on the dashboard). Looks like the MTO has some 802.11b stuff, with and without WEP enabled. Also, several trucking/transport companies. It's funny how many of them tend to put the company name/phone #/fax # in the AP name or SSID. Also, Eglinton just east of Yonge has a large AP concentration, at least 10 that I can find.

04-09-2002	#13 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Antennas pointed at CN Tower Michael, I suspect there are a lot of stuff going on on the Tower - it's a great location. Look Communications had there AP on the CN Tower - it used to be (and may still be) the only Toronto AP. GNUbie Mississauga

04-09-2002	#14 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Some other APs? Hi all: Well, there's at least two wireless ISPs in Toronto now. Can't remember the second one, but the first one is called "Whip the Web!" They're on the web if you search for 'em. You may also want to check out the Toronto Wireless Community Network for some info. They have some suggested setups for low-cost APs, as they're trying to create a City-wide public access free network. Their site documents some of the APs already open for free acess! Just out of curiosity, what are you guys using for antennae? Thanks Shplad

04-11-2002	#15 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Antennas Here's my current setup if anyone's curious: - Compaq 1500c notebook (not small and not light but durable, and runs OpenBSD/Linux/Win9x) - Orinoco Silver + Lucent Range Extender antenna - Cisco Aironet 350 (100mw tx) - Cisco diversity antenna (dual RP-TNC jacks, with dual cables that go to the two connectors on the Cisco card) - Cisco mini antenna (for stealth usage) What I'd really love to get ahold of is a Toshiba Libretto or similar - something tiny, with PCMCIA slots. These machines are still way too expensive though (even the P75 goes for alot of $$ on Ebay!) By the way, since I last posted, I've found several LARGE companies with wide open WLANs around North Toronto. A few even happily give out a DHCP address on the corporate LAN, with no packet filter or anything in front of it. As a security professional, this just makes me sad. I'm tempted to contact the CEO/Network Admins anonymously and give them this info.

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