As a budding cybersecurity enthusiast, you have set up a small lab at home to...

The network is using an uncrackable encryption method, which makes it difficult to crack the Wi-Fi password. WPA2 Personal with AES encryption is the strongest form of security offered by Wi-Fi devices at the moment, and it should be used for all purposes. AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard, and it is a symmetric-key algorithm that uses a 128-bit, 192-bit, or 256-bit key to encrypt and decrypt data. AES is considered to be uncrackable by brute force attacks, as it would take an impractical amount of time and computational power to try all possible key combinations12. Therefore, unless you have access to the Wi-Fi password or the encryption key, you will not be able to decrypt the network traffic and crack the password.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

A. The Wi-Fi password is too complex and long: This option is not relevant because the Wi-Fi password is not directly used to encrypt the network traffic. Instead, the password is used to generate a Pre-Shared Key (PSK), which is then used to derive a Pairwise Master Key (PMK), which is then used to derive a Pairwise Transient Key (PTK), which is then used to encrypt the data. Therefore, the complexity and length of the password do not affect the encryption strength, as long as the password is not easily guessed or leaked34.

B. Your hacking tool is outdated: This option is not plausible because even if your hacking tool is outdated, it would not affect your ability to capture the network traffic and attempt to crack the password. The hacking tool may not support the latest Wi-Fi standards or protocols, but it should still be able to capture the raw data packets and save them in a file. The cracking process would depend on the encryption algorithm and the key, not on the hacking tool.

D. The network is using MAC address filtering: This option is not feasible because MAC address filtering is a technique that restricts network access and communication to trusted devices based on their MAC addresses, which are unique identifiers assigned to network interfaces. MAC address filtering can prevent unauthorized devices from joining the network, but it cannot prevent authorized devices from capturing the network traffic. Moreover, MAC address filtering can be easily bypassed by spoofing the MAC address of an allowed device56.

References:

1: What is AES Encryption and How Does it Work? | Kaspersky

2: AES Encryption: Everything You Need to Know | Comparitech

3: How Does WPA2 Work? | Techwalla

4: How Does WPA2 Encryption Work? | Security Boulevard

5: What is MAC Address Filtering? | Definition, Types & Examples - Fortinet

6: How to Bypass MAC Address Filtering on Wireless Networks - Null Byte :: WonderHowTo