WiFi Hacking (Simulated Setup Only)

Objective: Capture WPA2 handshake and recover WiFi password using ethical tools.

Summary

This project was completed on a Kali Linux virtual machine (VM) using VirtualBox. Since I didn’t have a WiFi adapter to capture a live handshake, I used a pre-captured WPA2 handshake file from Aircrack-ng. I then used Aircrack-ng with a dictionary attack to recover the password, simulating a WiFi hacking scenario for learning purposes.

Tools Used

• Kali Linux (VM)
• Aircrack-ng
• rockyou.txt dictionary
• Wireshark: Used to inspect the handshake file and filter packets.

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Interface Setup

# Cloned Airgeddon from GitHub
git clone https://github.com/v1s1t0r1sh3r3/airgeddon.git
cd airgeddon
sudo bash airgeddon.sh

• On launch, since there was no compatible WiFi interface, I could not proceed with handshake capture.

• Since eth0 is a wired interface, it doesn’t support WiFi monitor mode (needed to capture packets). A WiFi adapter (like a USB WiFi dongle) had to be used for this step.

• Solution: Because I couldn’t capture a live handshake, I downloaded a pre-captured WPA2 handshake file from Aircrack-ng to simulate the attack.

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(Simulated Attack)

To demonstrate the cracking step:

1. I downloaded a pre-captured handshake file
   • File: wpa.full.cap

2. Inspected the Handshake with Wireshark:
   • Opened wpa.full.cap in Wireshark.
   • Filtered for the eapol protocol to confirm the WPA2 handshake packets were present.

3. Ran Aircrack-ng with the rockyou.txt dictionary:

   aircrack-ng wpa.full.cap -w /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt
   

4. Password successfully recovered:

KEY FOUND! [ 44445555 ]

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Mitigation Recommendations

To prevent attacks like this:

Mitigation	Explanation
Use WPA3	WPA3 has stronger encryption and protection against offline dictionary attacks.
Strong Passwords	Use a passphrase with numbers, and symbols. Avoid simple ones like 444555..
MAC Filtering	Only allow specific devices (by their MAC address) to connect to your WiFi.
Hidden SSID	Hides your network from casual discovery (but not a solid security measure).
Disable WPS	WPS can be easily brute-forced; always turn it off.

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Conclusion

Even though I couldn't capture a live handshake due to hardware limitations, I successfully demonstrated:

• Ethical WPA2 cracking using a known handshake file
• Aircrack-ng and dictionary attack workflow
• Importance of strong passwords in WiFi security

This project was a great one entailing ethical hacking and WiFi security testing, showing how easily weak passwords can be cracked.