Wardrives

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Drives around in a vehicle while using equipment to detect and map nearby wireless networks and their security details
2. Travels through an area in a car or on foot equipped with tools to locate and record the presence of accessible Wi-Fi networks
3. Moves through neighborhoods or cities scanning for wireless network signals and logging information about them for security testing or mapping purposes

Etymology: "Wardrives" is the plural of "wardrive," which is formed from "war" and "drive" and modelled on "war-dialing," the older practice of using a computer to call large blocks of telephone numbers in search of modems. Wardriving applies the same idea to wireless networks: someone drives or walks through an area with a laptop or phone, typically with a GPS receiver, and records the names and locations of Wi-Fi networks that can be detected. The "war" in the word is borrowed from the older term rather than from military conflict, so it carries the sense of a systematic, sweeping search instead of any fighting. The plural simply counts the separate outings or the mapping sessions people have carried out.