Constant Traffic

WiFi Manager raises this alert when it sees a constant heavy traffic from a particular mobile client.

What could be the probable reasons ?

Some of the possible reasons are -

• Sometimes, in order to disrupt normal wireless networks, attackers inject lot of packets using wireless clients. Common intentions of such traffic could be to overload the AP, fool the AP for too many associations using spoofed MAC addresses etc.
• In rare cases some legitimate clients (such as a WiFi camera transmitting traffic) can also send out such huge traffic. Operators have to ensure this by locating the client and checking the purpose of the client's transmission.

What is the impact ?

• If the traffic is not from a legitimate client then it can be a attack on the WLAN and can severe impact on the wireless network.
• If the traffic is from a legitimate client, then this could cause problems for the other users of the WLAN.  As the wireless medium is shared between the mobile users, heavy usage by one client can make others starve for bandwidth.