A security technician is reviewing Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) alerts afte… — CompTIA Security+

A security technician is reviewing Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS) alerts after several wireless industrial sensors lost connectivity simultaneously. The WIPS telemetry reveals a sudden, sustained rise in the physical RF noise floor to $-50\text{ dBm}$ across all channels in the $2.4\text{ GHz}$ spectrum, resulting in a severely degraded Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and a high rate of corrupted frame retransmissions. Which of the following wireless attacks is indicated by these metrics?

Radio Frequency (RF) jammingAnswer
B
Evil twin deployment
C
Deauthentication attack
D
Initialization Vector (IV) attack

Answer

Radio Frequency (RF) jamming

Radio Frequency (RF) jamming occurs when an attacker transmits continuous high-power signals on target wireless frequencies. This elevates the ambient noise floor, degrades the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) to unusable levels, and prevents legitimate devices from maintaining connectivity across affected frequency channels.

Step-by-Step Solution

Analyze the WIPS log telemetry

Identified a sharp increase in the background RF noise floor (reaching

-50\text{ dBm}

) affecting all channels in the

2.4\text{ GHz}

spectrum.

Physical layer interference spanning multiple channels indicates signal disruption at the radio frequency layer rather than protocol manipulation.

Evaluate the impact on wireless performance metrics

Noted a drastic drop in Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) leading to frame corruption and lost sensor connectivity.

When the noise floor approaches or exceeds signal strength, wireless receivers cannot distinguish legitimate data frames from background noise.

Correlate indicators to specific attack signatures

Conclude that intentional high-power RF transmission (jamming) is causing the denial-of-service condition.

RF jamming elevates the physical noise floor uniformly across frequency bands without transmitting valid 802.11 frames.

Key Concept

Identifying Radio Frequency (RF) jamming attack indicators in wireless networks

Question

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Step-by-Step Solution

Key Concept

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