According to an embodiment of the present invention, the wireless activity
in a geographic area containing LAN connection ports is monitored using
one or more sensor devices, called sniffers. By analyzing said wireless
activity, one or more APs that are operating in said geographic area are
identified. The active APs so identified are classified into three
categories, namely "authorized" APs (those that are allowed by network
administrator), "unauthorized" APs (those that are not allowed by the
network administrator, but are still connected to the LAN of interest)
and "external" APs (those that are not allowed by network administrator
but are not connected to the LAN of interest, for example APs connected
to the neighbor's LAN) by conducting one or more tests. The sniffers
continue to monitor the selected geographic area to detect any wireless
station attempting to connect to or communicating with the one or more
identified unauthorized APs. Upon identifying unauthorized AP and/or
intruding wireless station an indication is transferred to the prevention
process.