Is it Difficult to Detect Rogue APs and Other Unauthorized / Intruder Devices?

Detecting Rogue APs | Rogue AP | Wireless Security

Whether or not you will be able to easily/quickly detect any rogue APs (or other unauthorized networking devices for that matter) as soon as they show up on your LANs/WLANs largely depends on how well (or not) your networking hardware allows you to implement and manage policy based network access, and how detailed (or not) the network usage monitoring and reporting tools they support.

In other words, often this comes down to whether your network has been slapped together using cheap consumer-grade hardware, or it is built using enterprise level (often more expensive, but more sophisticated) managed devices.

Unmanaged, Consumer Grade Networking Devices:
If most (if not all) of your network is powered by consumer-grade (cheap, unmanaged) hardware gear, you are going to have a difficult time continually (and effectively) monitoring your network air-space/endpoints for rogue APs and other unauthorized devices. Most consumer devices do not announce themselves on a LAN/WLAN, so it is often difficult to spot them.

Managed, Enterprise Grade Networking Devices:
If your network (regardless of whether it is a wired LAN or a WLAN) has been implemented using enterprise level managed networking hardware, you are going to find it relatively easy to not only quickly identify any rogue/parasitic devices near or within your network, you will be able to isolate them quickly -thereby minimizing or preventing any damage that they may have otherwise inflicted upon your network and its users had those rouge devices/APs gone undetected. Most managed networking devices not only announce themselves on a LAN/WLAN, they also allow you to restrict/grant access based on various filtering (MAC address based, IP address based, protocol based, Port based, etc.) methods.