Capturing and analyzing wireless traffic
Before we go off to dive into the deep waters of the Wi-Fi sea, it is time to invite our good seafaring friend, Wireshark, to the scene. Just as we had used Wireshark to capture traffic on our wired Ethernet networks in the previous chapters, we will now use it to capture the Wi-Fi network traffic.
Sniffing challenges in a Wi-Fi world
Sniffing Wi-Fi traffic can be quite challenging. Wireless networks work on multiple channels and use different frequencies, even in the same location. The challenge is to select a specific static channel. The next challenge is identifying the channel number that we have decided to capture.
Another important factor to consider is the distance between the point of capture and the transmitting point. The greater the range, the less reliable the collection. Interference and collisions can also affect the quality of capture. As discussed earlier, certain network frequencies are subject to interference by devices such as cordless...
