[Term of the Day]: Evil Twin
Term of the Day
“Evil Twin”
Definition — What is an Evil Twin?
Evil Twin is one of the biggest threats on public WiFi, it is a type of man-in-the-middle attack which may appear to be legitimate access points, the hacker clone's the MAC address and the name or service set identifier (SSID) of the network. Wireless technology exists for more than twenty years, as technology advances, wireless access to the internet increases, and public WiFi access points are everywhere. They exist in hotel lobbies, coffee shops, bars, public transport hubs, etc.
Let’s say you want to use KFC's WiFi which is "KFC Free WiFi" and you mistakenly use the fraudulent evil twin network, "KFC Free 5G WiFi" you think you’re connecting to a trusted WiFi access point, but your Laptop/Phone’s connection is being re-routed to the hacker’s network. Now the hacker can easily steal your passwords, photos, and banking details. Evil Twins are difficult to detect, the reason being the SSID created by the hacker will be identical to the real one. In order to prevent your organization from an Evil Twin attack, you can install WiFi Intrusion Prevention Systems (WIPS) in your network which is designed to detect unauthorized duplicate access points and mandate rules such that employees who use wireless devices should always connect to the Internet through a VPN which more secured.