Wireless sniffing involves eavesdropping on wireless network communications using special software or hardware tools. It can be used for troubleshooting or malicious attacks. Frames or packets can be targeted, revealing the presence of a wireless base station or monitoring data being sent over a network. Sniffing software examines all frames or packets, and wireless cards or chipsets must be compatible. Sniffing typically has two modes: monitor and promiscuous. It can be used for spoofing or intrusion detection.
Wireless sniffing is the practice of eavesdropping on communications within a wireless network using special software or hardware tools. Sniffing is more intrusive than wireless stumbling, which is looking for the presence of wireless networks. Reasons behind wireless sniffing can range from troubleshooting to a malicious attack against a network or an individual.
Both wired and wireless networks can be monitored or sniffed. Wireless networks are typically easier to smell because they use radio signals as a method of communication. An attacker could, for example, sit in a car outside a home or business and sniff a wireless network.
Computer networks divide information into pieces called frames. Inside these frames are packets of data. Wireless sniffing could target frames, packets, or both.
Targeting frames can reveal the presence of a wireless base station that is configured to remain undetected, and can also be used to break old wireless encryption standards. Packet sniffing, which may also be called Internet Provider (IP) sniffing, can be used to monitor e-mail or other data being sent over a wireless network by others. It can also help a network administrator monitor and diagnose network problems.
To sniff wireless networks, special software known as a sniffer is used to monitor network traffic. Networked computers and devices typically only look at the frames and packets that are addressed to them. Sniffing software examines all frames or packets, regardless of which computer the information is destined for. The wireless card or chipset and drivers used must be capable of this and must be compatible with the software used.
Wireless sniffing typically has two types of modes: monitor mode and promiscuous mode. In monitor mode, a wireless adapter is required to listen to radio messages broadcast by other wireless devices without broadcasting its own messages. This type of sniffing is almost impossible to detect because the attacker doesn’t transmit any messages. In promiscuous mode, a sniffer is associated with a particular wireless access point. This monitors all data on the access point, but may expose the sniffer.
Sometimes a malicious intruder will use the information gathered during a wireless sniffing session to impersonate another machine. This is known as spoofing. Wireless sniffing can also be used to improve security. Wireless sniffing can also be used to perform intrusion detection by looking at attackers or intruders on a network.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
