

But to get started doing this, you'll typically need to invest in a wireless network adapter that gives you more control than the average consumer adapter. Even without the Wi-Fi password, you can learn about the types of devices that are nearby, which devices are connected to which networks, and more information that can be useful to a hacker. Sniffing Wi-Fi packets allows you to learn a lot about the wireless landscape of an area. For less than $10 in electronics, you can build a tiny Arduino Wi-Fi sniffer that saves Wireshark-compatible PCAP files and fits anywhere.


But thanks to a Wi-Fi sniffing library written in Arduino and the ultra-cheap ESP8266 chip, you might not need one. If you want to get started sniffing Wi-Fi networks, you usually need to start with a wireless network adapter.
