Hack the Route Start free Open app Wireless and network types
Evil twin and rogue access point
An access point that copies a trusted network's name to lure clients onto an attacker's radio.
Anyone can broadcast any SSID, so an attacker stands up an access point advertising the same network name as the office or a café — an evil twin. Clients that remember the name may associate to it, putting the attacker in the middle of their traffic. A rogue AP is the broader term: any access point on your network you did not authorise, whether a malicious twin or an employee's unsanctioned router. The name proves nothing; what distinguishes a real AP from an impostor is its BSSID (the radio's MAC address). Detection is by comparing the BSSIDs on the air against an allowlist of the APs you actually deployed, and by a wireless controller or sensor flagging unknown radios.