Will airodump-ng "miss" data?

[chaohacker]

If I ran airodump-ng such that it monitored all channels, would I potentially stand to lose data compared to if I were to run it monitoring one fixed channel? What about if I specify just one bssid? Is there a trade off between completeness and breadth?

[billo2310]

If I ran airodump-ng such that it monitored all channels, would I potentially stand to lose data compared to if I were to run it monitoring one fixed channel? What about if I specify just one bssid? Is there a trade off between completeness and breadth?

Firstly I am by no means any sort of expert but by definition channel hopping will cause you to not be on your desired channel at all times so you will not be able capture all data and i think it will take you longer to obtain the four way handshake..

just my thoughts,

B.

[Barry]

Yes, it will miss data on channels other than what it's scanning at the moment. If you're locked onto one channel you could still miss data if your card can't keep up, or there are more than one network running on that channel.

[chaohacker]

Yes, it will miss data on channels other than what it's scanning at the moment. If you're locked onto one channel you could still miss data if your card can't keep up, or there are more than one network running on that channel.

Okay, so if I want to monitor a specific network, will specifying both the channel and the bssid be enough? Is there anything else I can do?

What are the ramifications (in regards to performance) of specifying the channel ahead of time with airmon? Is one not needed if the other is used?

[TAPE]

I always feel that if you have all the information on the test AP, why not use it and focus as much as you can, so ;

airodump-ng mon0 -c 1 -t wpa -d 00:11:22:33:44:55 -a

You sometimes need to specify the channel when statring the interface with airmon to ensure that it does
not start hopping in airodump, (even when the -c option is used. it does sometimes hop)
Only really need to do that when you start the attack on the AP though IMO.

[billo2310]

I always feel that if you have all the information on the test AP, why not use it and focus as much as you can, so ;

airodump-ng mon0 -c 1 -t wpa -d 00:11:22:33:44:55 -a

You sometimes need to specify the channel when statring the interface with airmon to ensure that it does
not start hopping in airodump, (even when the -c option is used. it does sometimes hop)
Only really need to do that when you start the attack on the AP though IMO.

I personally Always specify the channel I am scanning and I am very glad that it is a known issue that it does sometimes still hop...
that has put my mind at rest

As always thanks guys I learn something on every visit!

B.

[Citruspers]

Aside from what you mentioned, it of course also depends on your card, and your perhaps your processor (I don't know if the card drops the irrelevant packets, or the computer's processor, but my bet is on the latter).

[chaohacker]

Thank you all for the replies. Very useful information.

You sometimes need to specify the channel when statring the interface with airmon to ensure that it does
not start hopping in airodump, (even when the -c option is used. it does sometimes hop)

When this bug occurs, will airodump display that it's hopping channels, or does it only display the designated channel and hop behind the scenes?

[TAPE]

Well I have on occasion seen that it is fixing on a different channel from what is specified in airodump.
When starting the interface with airmon-ng specifying the channel it doesnt.