Using Wireshark, if we monitor Beacon frames in the Wireless Lab network, we are able to see the SSID in plain text. You should see Beacon frames, as shown in the following screenshot:

Configure your access point to set the Wireless Lab network as a hidden SSID. The configuration option to do this may differ across access points. In my case, I need to check the Invisible option in the Visibility Status option, as shown in the following screenshot:

Now if you take a look at the Wireshark trace, you will find that the SSID Wireless Lab has disappeared from the Beacon frames. This is what hidden SSIDs are all about:

In order to bypass Beacon frames, we will first use the passive technique of waiting for a legitimate client to connect the access point. This will generate probe request and probe response packets that will contain the SSID of the network, thus revealing its presence:

Alternately, you can use...