Course Overview
This course equips learners with practical and ethical hacking skills to assess, exploit, and secure Wi-Fi networks. Through real-world tools, live demonstrations, and guided labs, learners will gain a solid foundation in wireless security from network protocols to advanced attack simulations. Perfect for aspiring cybersecurity professionals, penetration testers, and network administrators.
Module 1: Introduction to Wi-Fi & Wireless Security
Basic radio/wireless concepts: how Wi-Fi connects devices, APs, SSIDs and channels (conceptual only).
Overview of major 802.11 standards and why capacity, range, and features differ.
Frequency bands (2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz): trade-offs in interference, range and throughput.
Common classes of wireless threats at a high level (what defenders should look for).
Module 2: Wi-Fi Security Protocols & Architectures
High-level overview of WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3 — what problems each generation tries to solve.
PSK vs Enterprise authentication models and where each is appropriate in practice.
Encryption and integrity concepts (why strong ciphers and key management matter).
Typical protocol weaknesses from a defender’s perspective (what to monitor and patch).
Module 3: Legal, Ethical & Lab Setup (Safe Practice)
Legal/ethical rules for wireless testing: consent, scope, logging, and policies.
How to design a contained lab environment for learning (air-gapped/isolated networks, test devices).
Virtual machines and benign sandboxing concepts for studying wireless tools safely.
Responsible disclosure and reporting when vulnerabilities are found.
Module 4: Monitoring, Packet Capture & Recon (Defensive View)
Concept of monitor mode and what packet capture reveals to network defenders.
What an AP/roaming client baseline looks like and how anomalies stand out.
How to identify rogue APs, unexpected clients and channel interference conceptually.
Filtering and focusing capture data for incident investigation (what to record and why).
Module 5: Authentication Weaknesses & Hardening (Defender Focus)
Why weak passwords, reused passphrases and poor key management enable compromise.
Importance of strong authentication: enterprise options, MFA and managed credentials.
Wordlists and credential-guessing as a concept — and how defenders test their own networks ethically.
Practical hardening checklist: SSID hygiene, guest segmentation, and secure WPA/WPA3 settings.
Module 6: Common Attack Types (Overview & Detection)
High-level descriptions of common attack patterns (deauth-style disruptions, rogue APs, evil-twin concepts) — framed for detection and mitigation.
Indicators of compromise for each pattern and log/trace artefacts defenders should capture.
Mitigation strategies and response steps (isolation, reconfiguration, additional monitoring).
When to escalate to formal incident response and forensic capture.
Module 7: Real-World Scenarios, Risk Management & Countermeasures
Case studies (lessons learned) showing how Wi-Fi lapses translated to breaches and how they were fixed.
Home and office hardening: router admin hygiene, firmware updates, segmentation, and guest networks.
Defence in depth: monitoring, periodic audits, user training and policy controls.
Recommended next steps for students: certifications, safe CTFs/labs, and responsible practice guidelines.