Building an advanced Wi-Fi lab

The lab we have created for this book is a barebones one and is great to get you started in the world of wireless security. However, you would require a more advanced lab, if you plan to pursue a career in Wi-Fi security and penetration testing.

Here are a couple of additional items you could consider purchasing:

Directional Antennas:

Directional Antennas could be used to boost the signal and help detect more Wi-Fi networks from afar. This can come in handy when the penetration test involves a large facility, which might be difficult to cover by foot.

There are different types of antennas suited for various purposes. It might be worthwhile to do some research on this topic before making a purchase.

Wi-Fi Access Points:

It may be interesting to experiment with different access points using 802.11 a/b/g/n, and so on, as one can never really be sure what he may find in the field. Though, fundamentally from an auditing perspective the techniques remain the same, in some rare cases the manufacturers may have added their own security patches to combat issues. It might be good to have experience with a varied set of access points:

Wi-Fi Cards:

We have used the Alfa card for our lab sessions throughout this book. There are other USB-based and in-built cards on the laptops which could also be used with the right drivers for Wireless Penetration Testing purposes. It might be a good idea to explore some of these cards and drivers. This might come in handy when you are confronted with a situation where the Alfa card fails and you have to default to the in-built or other cards.

Smartphones and other Wi-Fi enabled devices:

In today's world, laptops are not the only Wi-Fi enabled devices. Almost every mobile device has Wi-Fi included in it—Smartphones, tablets, and so on. It might be a good idea to purchase a variety of these devices and use them in the labs: