Detecting Media Access Control (MAC) Address Spoofing in a Wi-Fi Network Using Channel Correlation

A wireless communication device, comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) resource;
• and
• a processor coupled to the RF resource and configured with processor-executable instructions to:
• transmit an active scan request in response to receiving a beacon frame;
• determine whether a response frame corresponding to the active scan request is received within an anticipated coherence interval following reception of the beacon frame;
• determine a first correlation coefficient in response to determining that the response frame was received within the anticipated coherence interval;
• and
• determine that MAC address spoofing is not present in a wireless communication network when the first correlation coefficient is greater than a first predetermined threshold.

A wireless communication device, comprising:

• means for receiving a beacon frame;
• means for transmitting an active scan request in response to receiving a beacon frame;
• means for determining whether a response frame corresponding to the active scan request is received within an anticipated coherence interval following reception of the beacon frame;
• means for determining a first correlation coefficient in response to determining that the response frame was received within the anticipated coherence interval;
• and
• means for determining that MAC address spoofing is not present in a wireless communication network when the first correlation coefficient is greater than a first predetermined threshold.

A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor of a wireless communication device to perform operations comprising:

• transmitting an active scan request in response to receiving a beacon frame;
• determining whether a response frame corresponding to the active scan request is received within an anticipated coherence interval following reception of the beacon frame;
• determining a first correlation coefficient in response to determining that the response frame was received within the anticipated coherence interval;
• and
• determining that MAC address spoofing is not present in a wireless communication network when the first correlation coefficient is greater than a first predetermined threshold.