KisMAC is a

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks, and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables int ...

discovery tool for

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. It has a wide range of features, similar to those of Kismet (its

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), also known as Berkeley Unix or BSD Unix, is a discontinued Unix operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berkeley, beginni ...

namesake). The program is geared toward network security professionals, and is not as novice-friendly as similar applications. Distributed under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

, KisMAC is

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

. KisMAC will scan for networks passively on supported cards - including Apple's

AirPort An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

, and AirPort Extreme, and many third-party cards, and actively on any card supported by Mac OS X itself. Cracking of WEP and WPA keys, both by brute force, and exploiting flaws such as weak scheduling and badly generated keys is supported when a card capable of monitor mode is used, and packet reinjection can be done with a supported card ( Prism2 and some

Ralink Ralink Technology, Corp. is a Wi-Fi chipset manufacturer mainly known for their IEEE 802.11 (Wireless LAN) chipsets. Ralink was founded in 2001 in Cupertino, California, then moved its headquarters to Hsinchu, Taiwan. On 5 May 2011, Ralink was ...

cards).

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

mapping can be performed when an

NMEA The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) is a US-based marine electronics trade organization setting standards of communication between marine electronics. Standards NMEA 0183 NMEA 2000 NMEA OneNet NMEA OneNet is the latest standard ...

compatible GPS receiver is attached. Kismac2 is a fork of the original software with a new GUI, new features and that works for OS X 10.7 - 10.10, 64-bit only. It is no longer maintained. Data can also be saved in

pcap In the field of computer network administration, pcap is an application programming interface (API) for capturing network traffic. While the name is an abbreviation of ''packet capture'', that is not the API's proper name. Unix-like systems ...

format and loaded into programs such as

Wireshark Wireshark is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source packet analyzer. It is used for computer network, network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. Originally named Ethereal, ...

KisMAC Features

* Reveals hidden / cloaked / closed SSIDs * Shows logged in clients (with MAC Addresses, IP addresses and signal strengths) * Mapping and GPS support * Can draw area maps of network coverage * PCAP import and export * Support for 802.11b/g * Different attacks against encrypted networks * Deauthentication attacks * AppleScript-able * Kismet drone support (capture from a Kismet drone)

KisMAC and Germany

The project was created and led by Michael Rossberg until July 27, 2007, when he removed himself from the project due to changes in German law (specifically, StGB Section 202c) that "prohibits the production and distribution of security software". On this date, project lead was passed on to Geoffrey Kruse, maintainer of KisMAC since 2003, and active developer since 2001. KisMAC is no longer being actively being developed. Primary development, and the relocated KisMAC web site were offline as of September 2016. As of August 6, 2007, the former homepage now denounces the new German law. KisMac2 was project to continue development but is no longer maintained as well.

References

External links

Former homepage
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121065732/http://kismac.de/ , date=2022-01-21 Free software programmed in Objective-C Wireless networking MacOS-only free software MacOS network-related software Network analyzers

KisMAC Features

KisMAC and Germany

See also

References

External links