What term describes a rogue access point designed to mimic a legitimate one to steal credentials?

What term describes a rogue access point designed to mimic a legitimate one to steal credentials?

• A. Captive portal
• B. Guest network
• C. Evil twin
• D. WEP

Answer: (C)

The idea being tested is a malicious access point that copies a legitimate one to fool users into connecting and then stealing their credentials. This is known as an evil twin—the attacker sets up a rogue AP that broadcasts the same network name (SSID) as a trusted network, sometimes even matching the signal characteristics, so a device can’t tell it’s fake. Once connected, the attacker can intercept traffic or present a fraudulent login page to harvest usernames and passwords, effectively performing a man-in-the-middle at the Wi‑Fi layer. This term specifically captures the deceptive replication of a real AP to exploit user trust. The other terms describe different things: a captive portal is simply a login page shown by some networks; a guest network is an isolated network for visitors; WEP is an old encryption protocol. None of those describe the act of impersonating an AP to collect credentials like an evil twin does.

The idea being tested is a malicious access point that copies a legitimate one to fool users into connecting and then stealing their credentials. This is known as an evil twin—the attacker sets up a rogue AP that broadcasts the same network name (SSID) as a trusted network, sometimes even matching the signal characteristics, so a device can’t tell it’s fake. Once connected, the attacker can intercept traffic or present a fraudulent login page to harvest usernames and passwords, effectively performing a man-in-the-middle at the Wi‑Fi layer.

This term specifically captures the deceptive replication of a real AP to exploit user trust. The other terms describe different things: a captive portal is simply a login page shown by some networks; a guest network is an isolated network for visitors; WEP is an old encryption protocol. None of those describe the act of impersonating an AP to collect credentials like an evil twin does.