Exploiting Wireless Received Signal Strength Indicators to Detect Evil-Twin Attacks in Smart Homes

Figure 1

Example scenarios in which the attacker can easily launch an Evil-Twin attack to steal information using a fake AP. This kind of attack typically happens when a hacker constructs a mock (but still functional) Wi-Fi access point (AP) right at the place where there ought to be an original and legitimate access point. The reason this works so well is that, for a well-orchestrated attack, the illegitimate AP has stronger signals than the legitimate one and hence the unsuspecting users might log on to this mock-up connection and then use the Internet while sharing all their precious data, all the way from their user’s IDs and passwords to credit/debit card information.