Security News > 2024 > July > Australian charged for ‘Evil Twin’ WiFi attack on plane
An Australian man was charged by Australia's Federal Police for allegedly conducting an 'evil twin' WiFi attack on various domestic flights and airports in Perth, Melbourne, and Adelaide to steal other people's email or social media credentials.
An evil twin WiFi network is a malicious/fake wireless access point that uses the identical SSID as that of a legitimate or expected network in a specific area.
Many flights offer in-flight WiFi, requiring passengers to first connect to the airline's WiFi network.
When a cybercriminal conducts an evil twin attack, they set up a WiFi network under their own control that uses the same name as the one promoted by the airline.
In the case of the Australian arrested by AFP, the agency says that he used a portable device to create free WiFi access points at multiple locations, requiring them to log in using their email or social media accounts.
While it is not unheard of for threat actors to conduct these types of WiFi attacks, cybersecurity researcher Daniel Card warns that evil twin attacks are not something most people need to worry about.