Evaluation of Wireless Access Point Security and Best Practices for Mitigation

Abstract

The necessity for safeguarding wireless networks has increased due to an increase in the number of associated cyber-attacks on unsecured and weak wireless networks. It is critical for individuals, homeowners, and businesses to protect their wireless networks from external hackers. Wardriving is the act of an attacker foraging for wireless networks while driving a vehicle or while using a laptop or a smartphone. It is an efficient method for gathering information about nearby Wireless Access Points (WAPs), which aids in the analysis of a particular WAPs weakness. Hackers use wardriving techniques to identify open and poorly secured WAPs from which they can conduct illegal activities such as stealing personal data containing sensitive information and later using it to commit identity theft. This paper proposes and develops a Python-based standalone tool for analyzing the vulnerability of a specific Access Points captured during wardriving activity. The proposed tool generates a Report with the information about the WAP captured and also outlines best practices and recommendations for securing the WAP against wardriving.