Wireless IDS/IPS (WIDS/WIPS) · Hacking Project

Detect and optionally prevent 802.11-layer attacks through distributed RF monitoring and signature/anomaly analysis.

**The problem**
Wireless attacks — rogue APs, evil twins, deauthentication and disassociation floods, KARMA/MANA, and Wi-Fi honeypots — occur at a layer most SOCs never monitor, leaving a blind spot exploited for credential theft and network intrusion. Enterprises deploy wired IDS but rarely have dedicated 802.11 detection, and even fewer have automated prevention. The gap is continuous RF-layer monitoring with signature and anomaly detection plus optional containment.

**What you'll build**
Build a distributed WIDS/WIPS using monitor-mode sensors that maintain a trusted BSSID/SSID inventory, detect rogue and evil-twin APs, spoofed MACs, deauth/disassoc floods, and known attack tool signatures, then optionally issue containment (targeted deauth of rogue clients) under strict policy. Centralize alerts to a dashboard/SIEM with severity scoring, and document the legal/operational constraints of active prevention.

**Objective** — Detect and optionally prevent 802.11-layer attacks through distributed RF monitoring and signature/anomaly analysis.

**Expected outcome** — A deployed WIDS/WIPS with sensors, a trusted-baseline inventory, real-time rogue/deauth/evil-twin alerts, and a documented containment module.

**Difficulty** — Advanced — combines distributed sensing, signature and anomaly detection, baseline management, and optional active containment.

**Primary category** — SOC / Wireless Intrusion Detection; Secondary = Threat Hunting, Incident Response, Network Defense

**Security domains** — Primary = Blue Team; Secondary = Purple Team, Incident Response, Security Research, Threat Intelligence

**Technical focus** — rogue AP detection, evil-twin detection, deauth/disassoc flood detection, MAC spoofing detection, RF baselining, signature + anomaly detection, sensor fleet management, SIEM integration, containment/counter-deauth

**Core technologies** — Languages: Python, Go, Bash; Frameworks/Libraries: Scapy, Kismet API, Suricata concepts; Security Tools: Kismet, aircrack-ng, nzyme, WatchGuard/Aruba WIPS (concepts); Cloud/Infra: Raspberry Pi/OpenWrt sensors, Docker, Elastic Stack; AI/Data: scikit-learn/Isolation Forest for anomaly detection, Grafana; Databases: Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, PostgreSQL

**Where it's valued** — Enterprise security, finance, healthcare, retail, critical infrastructure, MSSPs

**Careers it builds toward** — SOC Analyst/Engineer, Wireless Security Engineer, Detection Engineer, Incident Responder, Blue Team Lead

**Framework alignment**
• MITRE ATT&CK: Detects Adversary-in-the-Middle T1557, Network Denial of Service T1498, Rogue/Evil-Twin AP, Valid Accounts via credential capture T1078; Discovery T1040
• NIST CSF 2.0: Detect (DE.CM continuous monitoring, DE.AE anomalies), Respond (RS.MI mitigation), Protect
• OWASP: N/A (network/RF layer)
• CIS Controls v8: Control 13 (Network Monitoring and Defense), Control 1 (Asset Inventory), Control 12 (Network Infrastructure Management), Control 17 (Incident Response)

**Innovation** — Enterprise Product — commercial WIPS exists but is costly; an open, extensible, SIEM-integrated sensor fleet has real product and consulting potential. Scores: Innovation 6/10, Startup 7/10, Enterprise-Readiness 7/10, Patent = Possible.