An evil twin, in the context of network security, refers to as a rogue or fake wireless access point that appears as a genuine hotspot offered by a legitimate provider. In an evil twin attack, this rogue hotspot is actually created by an eavesdropper or hacker to collect the personal data of the user without their knowledge. Sensitive data can be stolen either by either spying the connection or by using a phishing technique.
For example, a hacker using the evil twin exploit would position himself near an authentic Wi-Fi access point and finds out the SSID (name) and frequency. The hacker then sends out his own radio signal using exactly the same frequency and SSID. To the end-users, the rogue evil twin will appear as their legitimate hotspot with same name. In wireless transmission, evil twins are certainly not a completely new phenomenon. In the past, they were referred to as honeypots or base station clones. With the advancement of wireless technology, and the use of wireless devices in public areas, it's very easy for even a novice user to set up an evil twin. To avoid these fraudulent evil twin hotspots, it is recommended that the users should use public hot spots only for simple browsing purposes and avoid using them for banking or shopping. In order to safeguard business data while using a wireless connection, it is recommended that users connect via a VPN and never fail to use the WPA or WEP encryption.
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