A city library asks whether a wireless recon survey alone can prove that its staff Wi-Fi passphrase is weak. What should the assessor explain?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Surveys tell you who is on the air and how they lock the door—they do not open the lock. To show a weak passphrase, you still need handshake-class material and an offline guess against that material. Recon maps the target; it does not finish the proof.
Full Explanation
Wireless reconnaissance catalogs SSIDs, BSSIDs, channels, encryption/auth indicators, and clients. Those findings scope further work but do not by themselves demonstrate that a PSK is weak. Classic WPA2-Personal offline assessment still depends on observing usable handshake (or equivalent) material and then testing passphrase candidates offline under authorization. Treating beacon inventory or OUI hints as proof of a cracked passphrase overstates what recon can deliver.