| | |  | Information Security | Home » » Linksys WRT54G Ultimate Hacking | | | | | | | Description: | | This book will teach the reader how to make the most of their WRT54G series hardware. These handy little inexpensive devices can be configured for a near endless amount of networking tasks. The reader will learn about the WRT54G's hardware components, the different third-party firmware available and the differences between them, choosing the firmware that is right for you, and how to install different third-party firmware distributions. Never before has this hardware been documented in this amount of detail, which includes a wide-array of photographs and complete listing of all WRT54G models currently available, including the WRTSL54GS.
Once this foundation is laid, the reader will learn how to implement functionality on the WRT54G for fun projects, penetration testing, various network tasks, wireless spectrum analysis, and more! This title features never before seen hacks using the WRT54G. For those who want to make the most out of their WRT54G you can learn how to port code and develop your own software for the OpenWRT operating system.
*Never before seen and documented hacks, including wireless spectrum analysis
*Most comprehensive source for documentation on how to take advantage of advanced features on the inexpensive wrt54g platform
*Full coverage on embedded device development using the WRT54G and OpenWRT | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Paul Asadoorian | | Paperback:
| 412 pages | | Publisher:
| Syngress | | Publication Date:
| July 03, 2007 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1597491667 | | Product Width:
| 230.0 centimeters | | Product Height:
| 187.5 centimeters | | Product Weight:
| 1.45 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.4 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 8 reviews |
| | | | Used and New: | | | |
| All | |
| $14.61 | Used
- Good | | | $15.49 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $15.49 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $17.25 | Used
- Good | | | $20.14 This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $21.60 | New | | | $21.61 | New | | | $22.76 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $22.77 | Used
- Good | | | $22.98 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $23.89 | New | | | $23.91 | New | | | $26.34 | New | | | $27.50 | Used
- Mint | | | $27.51 | Used
- Mint | | | $27.52 | New | | | $27.53 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | | $29.02 | New | | | $30.14 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $30.27 | Used
- Mint | | | $30.27 | New | | | $30.93 | New | | | $31.18 | Used
- Mint | | | $33.33 | New | | | $33.85 | New | | | $34.02 | New | | | $34.02 | Used
- Mint | | | $38.61 | New | | | $40.19 | New | | | $40.20 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $44.15 | New | | | $45.01 | New | | | $47.12 | New | | | $48.14 | New | | | $48.72 | New | | | $52.43 | New | | | $54.33 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $54.42 | Used
- Mint | | | $56.52 | New | | | $58.28 | New | | | $59.68 | Used
- Mint | | | $60.65 | Used
- Mint | | | $62.27 | New | |
| New | |
| $21.60 | New | | | $21.61 | New | | | $23.89 | New | | | $23.91 | New | | | $26.34 | New | | | $27.52 | New | | | $27.53 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | | $29.02 | New | | | $30.27 | New | | | $30.93 | New | | | $33.33 | New | | | $33.85 | New | | | $34.02 | New | | | $38.61 | New | | | $40.19 | New | | | $44.15 | New | | | $45.01 | New | | | $47.12 | New | | | $48.14 | New | | | $48.72 | New | | | $52.43 | New | | | $56.52 | New | | | $58.28 | New | | | $62.27 | New | |
| Used | |
| $14.61 | Used
- Good | | | $15.49 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $15.49 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $17.25 | Used
- Good | | | $20.14 This item is eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. | Used
- Acceptable | | | $22.76 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $22.77 | Used
- Good | | | $22.98 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $27.50 | Used
- Mint | | | $27.51 | Used
- Mint | | | $30.14 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $30.27 | Used
- Mint | | | $31.18 | Used
- Mint | | | $34.02 | Used
- Mint | | | $40.20 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $54.33 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $54.42 | Used
- Mint | | | $59.68 | Used
- Mint | | | $60.65 | Used
- Mint | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 8 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 49 found the following review helpful:
 Not a technical manual.Jul 05, 2007
By M. Baker
"For those who want to make the most out of their WRT54G you can learn how to port code and develop your own software for the OpenWRT operating system."
"Full coverage on embedded device development using the WRT54G and OpenWRT"
Unfortunately due to publication deadlines, much of the technical content of the book was dropped; it nolonger contains the chapters referenced in the above Amazon description, instead it focuses on giving brief reviews of the various firmwares available, along with hardware and software hacks. While it offers a good overview, the book falls short in technical depth and accuracy.
There are several places in the book where the information is either outdated or innacurate. Some examples -
OpenWrt should not be upgraded through the use of the "ipkg upgrade"; OpenWrt uses a filesystem overlay where the filesystem (squashfs) is readonly but appears writable by redirecting write access to another filesystem (jffs2). Attempting to upgrade will result in filesystem duplication; there are several warnings on the OpenWrt site regarding this.
The failsafe feaure is not new to OpenWrt's RC5 release; there has always been a failsafe proceeedure, but the instructions prior to the RC5 release were slightly different; failsafe was redesigned in RC5 to make it easier to access.
The example of blackholing advertisers through the use of dns using dnsmasq suggests rewriting the dnsmasq.conf; while the example does work, it creates a mess out of the configuration and involves many unnecessary steps. The same task could be acomplished much more easily by simply adding the hostnames to the /etc/hosts file.
The nvram-clean script does not actually reset the nvram configuration to defaults as described. The nvram-clean script only has a handful of known superfluous variables to remove; these are variables created by other firmwares that are nolonger required. It will not set any variables to their defaults; the defaults are device specific and setting them incorrectly would result in an unbootable device.
14 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 I would have never guessed so much is possibleOct 29, 2007
By Stephen Northcutt
I think the most important contribution this book will make is to help people understand it is possible to change those innocuous Linksys boxes. After all, they are everywhere. I don't personally plan to try to hardware hack my Linksys router tonight after finishing reading the book, but it is on the list. Heavens knows, I have three or four sitting in the equipment closet from before we upgraded my home office to professional equipment. In the book we learn the parts of a Linksys router; to be truthful, I had never thought about that. There is a discussion about overcloking the router to make the processor run faster. Talk about a blast from the past, brings back the old 8086/8088 days. It was dangerous then and it still is today. There is a discussion about the OpenWrt team, without them, this would never be possible.
It was a real eyeopener to learn how much people have done with the WRT54G, there are a number of choices in firmware, even semi-commercial choices such as Talisman which allows you to establish VPNs, hotspots, mesh and even SIP VoIP. This book in extensively researched, we learn how to set up DHCP, SAMBA even X Windows! There are even several methods for increasing the radio output and or antenna modifications. U.S. readers are cautioned this can get you into trouble, I know I ended up sending my FM pirate radio system to a missionary group in Africa because it was just too tempting and in an urban area the FCC will eventually get you. The biggest surprise for me was the use of a WRT54G ( with an adapter ) as a bluetooth scanner.
My understanding is that the authors are going to offer a class, that sounds like a lot of fun. If you are going to be installing wireless it is a good idea to read this book, a lot of the information applies regardless of what brand of equipment you select. And as for me, I don't think I will ever look at a Linksys router in the same way ever again, from now on I will be wondering just exactly what is going on beneath the hood.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Good information with lots of fun projectsJul 28, 2007
By Russell Butturini
This book is full of fantastic information about modifying the WRT54G. I found it extremely useful and the projects have so far provided me with hours of hacking fun! However, the one beef I have with this book is it's written like Paul and Larry talk. Often times, they would tell you to do something one way, then contradict themselves later on in the chapter or go off on tangents, making the instruction somewhat hard to follow. Still, it's a great book for anyone interested in enhancing the capabilities of the WRT54G!
10 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 UselessDec 19, 2008
By John Kinsella
Please don't buy this. The information contained within can be found in about 30 minutes of Googling around...I've been working with WRT54s for a few weeks, browsed a copy of this (hint: Google pdf) and found it be of zero value to me.
Unfortunately I don't have a better recommendation as an alternative...you're swimming in murky waters if you start hacking access points, but unless your needs are quite basic, this book isn't going to help. If your needs are pretty basic, the documentation on the OpenWrt and the dd-wrt sites will probably tell you all you need to know.
One strong suggestion: the hardware in these boxes changes frequently...if you're buying a device to play with, be very careful about the specific hardware version of what you get. Example: Asus' WL-500gp is a great box to use, but hardware version 2 of that box uses a different wireless chip that is currently unsupported (as of 12/2008).
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Great book by knowledgable authors but...Aug 24, 2007
By B. Freeman
This is a great book for anyone interested in knowing all about the WRT54G series routers and how to hack them. The authors Paul and Larry from the popular "PaulDotCom Security Weekly" podcast did a great job explaining the inner workings of the router and also have some great tips on how to hack the firmware and hardware.
I would have given this book a 5 star rating but it unfortunately covers too much info about using the OpenWRT "White Russian" firmware instead of the new NVRAM replacement firmware called OpenWRT "Kamikaze". In their defense though I acknowledge that at the time of print the OpenWRT "Kamikaze" stable version was finally released. But anyone needing to know all about the previous OpenWRT "White Russian" or the other optional firmware upgrades will definitely not be disappointed!
I highly recommend buying this book anyway and also recommend their related website "[...]" for more valuable info about these awesome little routers!
See all 8 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
|
