Using visualization to locate rogue access points

Unauthorized access points on a wireless network, known as rogue access points, represent significant security vulnerabilities. Commercial and open source tools are available to detect and locate such devices. As part of a class project, students in our Computer Security course assisted in the development of a software tool, called WiVis, that uses interactive visualization to locate rogue access points. Distributed sensors are "profile mapped" to determine how they receive wireless signals from the environment around them. Visual displays of the maps as contour lines are overlaid onto a schematic of the office or lab space. When sensors detect an access point, contour line intersection visually show the predicted location of the device. The tool runs on standard platforms and requires no special hardware.