It is important for a computer user to be aware of the different kinds of wireless network attacks and how a user can protect him/her from such attacks. Read more...
To gain an understanding of what wireless network attacks are and how they can harm a computer user, click below to read the 1st part of the article.
List of Wireless Network Attacks - Part 1
Confidentiality Attacks
Such attacks are done to intercept the data packets sent over the wireless network. It does not matter to the attacker, whether the packets are sent as plain text or in encrypted form.
Eavesdropping
Everyone knows what Eavesdropping is. It a technique used to intercept unsecured connections, in order to steal personal information.
Tools Used
Wireshark, bsd-airtools, Kismet and Ettercap
Cracking WEP Key
As the name suggests, various different tools are used to capture the WEP key in order to gain access to the wireless network.
Tools Used
Chopchop, WepDecrypt, Aircrack-ng, AirSnort, airoway, wesside, WepAttack, dwepcrack and WepLab
Evil Twin AP
Personating as an authorized access point by directing the wireless LAN’s SSID to ensnare users.
Tools Used
HermesAP, WifiBSD, cqureAP, Rogue Squadron and D-Link G200
Access Point Phishing
Running a fake web server and acting as an authorized web server in order to steal user credentials, credit card numbers and other personal or financial information.
Tools Used
Hotspotter, Airsnarf, Airpwn, RGlueAP and Karma
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
It is one of the widely adapted techniques of attackers to intercept secure web connections. A proxy is installed in between the user and the web server, and then the connection is directed to the proxy instead of the web server. However, user is lured to believe that the connection still exists with the web server.
Tools Used
Ettercap-NG, dsniff and sshmitm
Availability Attacks
Availability attacks are meant to prevent users from getting a response from the web server either by blocking access to the resources or by disabling the resource itself. Different types of availability attacks are:
Access Point Theft
The attacker removes the access point from the location.
Tools Used
Five finger discount method
Queensland DoS
DoS attacks stands for Denial of Service. The attacker exploits the CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Channel Assessment) system and makes the channel appear busy.
Tools Used
An adapter, along with a low-level utility
802.11 Beacon Flood
Generating continuous and enormous beacons making it hard to find a valid access point
Tools Used
FakeAccessPoint
Authenticate Flood
The attacker generates fake authenticates from different MAC addresses in order to fill the association table.
Tools Used
Macfld and FATA-Jack
802.11 TKIP MIC Exploit
An Attacker exploits the 802.11 by creating fake TKIP’s data and sending them to defer the wireless LAN service.
Tools Used
File2air, LORCON and wnet dinject
802.11 De-authenticate Flood
A technique, whereby an attacker creates and sends fake de-authenticate data so that the users connected to an AP are disconnected.
Tools Used
MDK, Aireplay, commercial WIPS, Airforge and void11
802.1X EAP-Failure
In this technique, an attacker continuously monitors the EAP station and then sends a fake EAP failure message.
Tools Used
File2air, QACafe and libradiate
List of Wireless Network Attacks
In this series of articles related to List of Wireless Network Attacks, I will highlight different types of wireless network attacks, various tools or methods commonly used by attackers, technical terms associated with each type of attack and how a computer user can detect such attacks..