Before you begin to scan, inject, crack, sniff, spoof, and DoS (Denial of Service) wireless networks, it helps to have an understanding of the fundamentals of conducting a wireless assessment. You should have an understating of the equipment you will need, the environment where the assessment will occur, and the basics of the regulatory standards for wireless communication. This book is a collection of practical applications that tell you how one would go about actually testing the security of wireless networks. It should be mentioned upfront that it is intended to provide some guidance for wireless security professionals and those who are looking to learn what it takes to attack and defend against wireless threats. It probably goes without saying, however, that before you proceed to try any of what you are about to learn against a production network, or any equipment you do not own, you must get written permission from the organization or individual you are providing the wireless assessment for. Unauthorized wireless cracking, traffic capture, or any other attacks that will be presented are a good way to find yourself in hot water and are not condoned or intended by the authors or the publisher of this content. This chapter will set the stage and help guide you through the basics of wireless communication, selecting the hardware that will provide you with all of the functionality required to conduct a wireless pentest, the procurement and installation of Kali Linux, the security professional's distribution of choice, and finally, validating that our configuration is sound and supports all of the tools we will be using throughout this publication.

We will cover the following topics in this chapter: