WiFi Penetration Testing: Beginner to Advanced
From RF fundamentals to WPA3 downgrade attacks, a complete wireless pentesting track.
Course overview
A full wireless penetration testing curriculum, starting from 802.11 fundamentals and monitor-mode tooling and building up through WEP, WPA/WPA2-PSK, rogue AP and evil-twin attacks, WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise (802.1X/EAP), and WPA3-SAE. Every attack module pairs the underlying protocol theory with a hands-on lab so you understand *why* an attack works, not just which command to paste.
What you'll learn
- Explain how 802.11 authentication and encryption evolved from WEP through WPA3
- Put a wireless adapter into monitor mode and capture/analyze 802.11 traffic with airodump-ng and Wireshark
- Recover a WEP key via IV collection and ARP-replay injection
- Capture a WPA/WPA2 4-way handshake or PMKID and crack it with hashcat/aircrack-ng
- Stand up a rogue access point and evil-twin captive portal to harvest credentials
- Attack WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise EAP authentication with hostapd-wpe
- Describe the WPA3-SAE handshake and the Dragonblood-class weaknesses found in early implementations
- Scope, execute, and report a wireless penetration test within legal and rules-of-engagement boundaries
Who this course is for
Anyone starting out in offensive security who wants a structured path into wireless, plus working pentesters who've only ever run one aircrack-ng command from a cheat sheet and want the protocol theory behind it. No prior wireless-specific knowledge assumed; basic Linux command-line comfort and a wireless adapter that supports monitor mode and packet injection are the only real prerequisites.
Curriculum
Module 1: Wireless & RF Fundamentals
- Welcome: What This Course Covers
- RF Basics: Frequencies, Channels, and Antennas
- 802.11 Frame Types and the Association Process
- WiFi Security Protocols: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3
- Module 1 Knowledge Check
Module 2: Lab Setup & Tooling
- Choosing a Wireless Adapter
- Setting Up Monitor Mode
- Tour of the Aircrack-ng Suite
- Lab: Monitor Mode and Your First Capture
Module 3: Reconnaissance & Enumeration
On completion of every module, enrolled students receive a verifiable certificate of completion. Full curriculum, hands-on labs, and instructor support are available at pentestnotes.tech/courses/wifi-penetration-testing-beginner-to-advanced.