Ravindra BagaleCourses & study guides

25. Wireless Security

25.4 Evil Twin and Deauth Attacks (Concept)

Do common Wi-Fi halle, samajnyasathi:

  • Deauth (denial of service): the attacker floods deauth frames so devices keep disconnecting – the Wi-Fi becomes unusable. WPA3 and "Protected Management Frames" (802.11w) defend against this.
  • Evil twin: the attacker sets up a fake access point with the same name (SSID) as a real one (say "Free_Airport_WiFi" or a copy of your office Wi-Fi). Victims connect to it, and the attacker sees or manipulates their traffic – often with a fake login page to steal passwords.

Defence: connect only to known networks, distrust open Wi-Fi, use a VPN, and check for HTTPS (Chapter 24). On your own network, enable Protected Management Frames and WPA3 where possible.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

When people see "Free WiFi", they connect right away – that is exactly what an evil twin relies on. Tell students: never do banking or logins on open/free Wi-Fi, and if you must, use a VPN. This is a practical, everyday lesson.

Practice task

Write, in words only, how an evil-twin attack tricks a user at a cafe, and list three things a user can do to stay safe. No need to build a fake AP.