Working with wireless adapters

As an aspiring ethical hacker and penetration tester, you may be assigned to perform a wireless penetration test on the organization's wireless network infrastructure to discover any security vulnerabilities and to assess the resilience of the wireless network.

While many penetration testers will have Kali Linux deployed on a laptop to improve their mobility, using the wireless network interface cards that are built into laptops is not the most efficient way to perform wireless penetration testing. Therefore, it's highly recommended to use an external wireless network adapter that supports the following features:

• IEEE 802.11 operating standards such as 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
• Operating frequencies of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band
• Monitor mode to detect nearby wireless networks
• Packet injection

The following are two wireless network adapters that are commonly used by penetration testers:

• The Alfa AWUS036NHA High Gain...