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The main piece of the kits, an adapter with a six-inch antenna that plugs into a USB port, comes with a CD-ROM to install its driver and a separate live CD-ROM that boots up an operating system called BackTrack. In BackTrack, the user can run applications that try to obtain keys for two protocols used to secure Wi-Fi networks, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). After a successful attack by the applications, called Spoonwep and Spoonwpa, a user can restart Windows and use the revealed key to access its Wi-Fi network.



The kits appear to be illegal in China and it is unclear who is bundling the software with the USB adapters. One of the adapter makers is Wifly-City, a company that operates a Wi-Fi network covering coffee shops and other areas in Taipei, Taiwan. A woman surnamed Ren who answered the phone at the company said it does not supply the software that often appears with its products.


A developer of BackTrack said the operating system is meant for penetration testing, not malicious attacks. "It sounds like BackTrack is being abused in China for illegal purposes. This is done without our knowledge or approval," the developer, who goes by the name Muts, said in an e-mail.