Patent ID: 8549634

Claim:
A method for detecting a rogue access point in a communication network comprising a probing unit authorized in the network, a plurality of client devices, and a plurality of access points, the method comprising: operating the probing unit to: associate with at least one of the plurality of access points, wherein the associated access point is an authorized access point in the communication network; send a pre-detection message to the associated access point, wherein the pre-detection message indicates a start of rogue access point detection mode and informs the associated access point not to respond to at least one of a plurality of probe requests following the pre-detection message; broadcast at least one probe request in the communication network after sending the pre-detection message and during the detection mode, wherein authorized access points in the plurality of access points being previously instructed to not to respond to the at least one probe request; and detect that one or more of the plurality of access points is the rogue access point based on receiving a probe response in reply to the broadcasted probe request from the rogue access point during the detection mode.