title: Is it possible to write a wifi cracking util for Android phones? Monitor mode vs Multicast?
body: <p>Considering writing a wifi cracking (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_Equivalent_Privacy#Encryption_details" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wep</a>, <a href="http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=369221" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wpa</a>) auditing tool for the android platform, but I am wondering if it is possible to do without a rooted phone. 
  I had thought it would be impossible to run on an <em>unrooted</em> phone due to the phones wifi chip ignoring packets not addressed to the phone. That is, without the ability to set the wifi chip to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_mode" rel="nofollow noreferrer">monitor mode</a> many of these attacks wont work.</p>
  
  <p>I was surprised to learn that android supports <a href="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/WifiManager.MulticastLock.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">multicast packets</a>. That is, android phones can be set to receive packets not addressed to them.</p>
  
  <p>My questions are:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Does having a multicast lock mean I can receive all packets broadcast, or does it only apply to packets with a multicast flag (if such a thing exists)?</p></li>
  <li><p>Is there a difference between monitor mode and multicast?</p></li>
  <li><p>Does the android api have a system for switching channels?</p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>More generally I'm curious:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Is anyone familar with other wifi cracking projects running on android (google searches turned up very little)?</p></li>
  <li><p>What difficulties am I likely to run into?</p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>This question is related to SO question <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2334244/is-there-anyway-to-put-android-wifi-droid-handset-into-permiscuous-monitoring-m">Is there anyway to put Android WIFI (droid handset) into permiscuous monitoring mode</a>?</p>