In the old days, a "wardriver" was the geek term for someone with a specialized scanner who prowled through neighborhoods in search of unprotected wi-fi hook-ups.

Now it's done with a cat.

QuoteLate last month, a Siamese cat named Coco went wandering in his suburban Washington, DC neighborhood. He spent three hours exploring nearby backyards. He killed a mouse, whose carcass he thoughtfully brought home to his octogenarian owner, Nancy. And while he was out, Coco mapped dozens of his neighbors' Wi-Fi networks, identifying four routers that used an old, easily-broken form of encryption and another four that were left entirely unprotected.

Unbeknownst to Coco, he'd been fitted with a collar created by Nancy's granddaughter's husband, security researcher Gene Bransfield. And Bransfield had built into that collar a Spark Core chip loaded with his custom-coded firmware, a Wi-Fi card, a tiny GPS module and a battery—everything necessary to map all the networks in the neighborhood that would be vulnerable to any intruder or Wi-Fi mooch with, at most, some simple crypto-cracking tools.

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/how-to-use-your-cat-to-hack-your-neighbors-wi-fi/

Photo with this story shows how easy it is to conceal the equipment inside a cat collar. You really wouldn't know that tiger tom with the sassy attitude is actually surfing your porn bookmarks.....is......well, just!!!!   

I see a new story line for Jack Bauer coming to another 24.

Quote from: Solar on August 12, 2014, 04:46:54 AM
I see a new story line for Jack Bauer coming to another 24.

Although I am a huge fan of Canadian television (actors and tech people, casting directors and most of all intelligent directors and writers), I have never caught on to the actor now performing the Bauer role, so I've never so much as watched one clip of his work in "24." (I'm not overly fond of Neil Young, either, but that's just the rocker in me, don't need him around either, no how.)

I can, however, believe Canadian TV would use this wi-fi wunderkitty as a comedy. After all, they did "Little Mosque on the Prairie," for several seasons. Howzabout, "Looking for ALF."

Hollyweird would want the cat to be a robotic cyborg space-alien death-beast with a raging jones for all the world's catnip...and female cats. Gotta toss in the yowling and the howling. Sex appeal, don'tcha know, it's good for the ratings.