What we discussed here is not going to facilitate you with every scenario that can be seen in wireless communication, but definitely, it will give you a jump start.

The IEEE 802.11 standard works over radio frequencies for communication purpose. The protocol that works behind WLANS is CSMA/CD, which facilitates a collision-free environment that is required for a wireless infrastructure. Under 802.11, there are multiple standards that have been developed, and this provides a robust solution for different infrastructure-based requirements.

Sometimes, you need to look at the RF energy level too, which can really play a big role in performance upgrade. Due to various devices that work over the same spectrum of 2.4 Ghz, it is possible that your WLAN signals may get distorted. What you need in such cases is a spectrum analyzer, which lets you analyze and monitor the RF energy flowing around you. To do so, you need special hardware that can be purchased from an online tech store, and you need to pair the same hardware with software that lets you use the same, for example, Metageek's Wi-SPY hardware paired with Channelyzer.

Kismet is a graphical tool available in Kali Linux that lets you collect various advanced details about the wireless networks that are available around you and the devices connected to those networks. Kismet comes with various customization options that can be really helpful while you look for specific information. Kismet also facilitates users with several graphical features to plot live traffic over a graph for a particular duration.

In a conventional WLAN environment, there is an AP and an STA that communicate with each other. Before the actual data transfer takes place, both the devices are supposed to negotiate the session over a key (password and encryption algorithm), which will be used by both the devices that are communicating to maintain the integrity of the data that is sent.

There are commonly three types of frames that you will see while working with Wireshark: management, control, and data frames. These are the packets that you can see in the details pane once a packet is selected. Management frames control the establishment of the connection, control frames control the transfer of management, and data frames simply consist of the actual data that is sent.

Authentication protocols such as WEP and WPA take care of how an AP and STA negotiate to start communicating.

EAP is used to let the exchange of master keys take place. As defined in RFC 3748, EAP is an authentication framework that supports multiple kinds of authentication methods, and to execute EAP, you do not require an IP because it runs over data-link layer.

EAP with LAN becomes EAPOL, which is used in 802.11 infrastructures (RADIUS/AAA) for the exchange of master keys. As per the normal pattern, an AP broadcasts beacon frames that STAs listen for. If not, then the STAs will send a probe request to get connected by themselves. Then, the AP and STA conduct an authentication session and negotiate until both the hosts are convinced with each other. Once this is done, the AP would send a success message to the STA.

Using Wireshark, it is possible to decrypt WEP communications by simply adding wireless network keys with the protocol in use and modifying the preferences for the IEEE 802.11 protocol.

The monitor mode used to capture the relevant packets can be configured easily over a Linux-based system, and it is essential for Wireshark 802.11 analysis.

RTS/CTS are used in contrast to CSMA/CA in 802.11, which keeps the medium collision free and easy to work with.

Using the hash function, Password-based key derivation function (PBKDF2), the 256-bit preshared key is evaluated using the passphrase.