Best Wireless Adapter for Hacking in 2019 (updated)

There have been various speculations as to why a wireless adapter is needed during hacking of Wi-Fi passwords and packet detection instead of opting for use with the physical adapter or the one already installed. Well, the choice is in the ability of a wireless card to support monitor mode, which is very rare with many wireless network adapters. Since not all adapters whose drivers are able to acquire wireless transmissions during publishing, where necessary, the article will guide you through the best wireless Hack Wi-Fi network card in 2019.

Kali Linux and WiFi Hacking

So far, Kali Linux has been one of the most used penetration testing operating systems of all time. It comes with Ultimate weapons that can be used to perform various types of penetration testing of Web applications, network attacks and WiFi hacking. It has an active and active community that continues to add new tools and implement updates periodically. The only problem with Kali Linux is the lack of support for hardware devices, which raises the question: what is the best WiFi adapter compatible with Kali? Linux that can perform different injection attacks using the tools packaged in Kali Linux?

Choosing the Best USB WiFi Adapter for Kali Linux

Everyone seems confused when they talk about the best USB WiFi adapters for Kali Linux and wireless cards. They do not know what they are and why they need it and what to buy because there are many USB WiFi adapters and wireless cards on the market, but only a few are compatible with Kali Linux.

A wireless adapter is simply a device that can be connected to our computer via the USB port and allows us to communicate with other devices over a WiFi network. It is this set of wireless chips that allows the laptops or other devices to connect to the WIFi network and access the Internet or nearby devices.

Why External USB WiFi Adapters?

Therefore, you may wonder why you need a USB WiFi adapter to connect your laptop because it already has an integrated WiFi chipset. Yes, you're right because most laptops and most smartphones today have an integrated WiFi chipset. In the perspective of WiFi piracy, these integrated WiFi adapters are not suitable for testing Wi-Fi networks. These are the problems with integrated Wi-Fi adapters.

The integrated WiFi adapters can not be used or used by virtual machines running on the laptop. Most integrated WiFi adapters can not be used to hack WiFi because they are not compatible with all WiFi modes and can not perform injection attacks that are really essential.

So even if you install Kali Linux as your primary machine and you have access to your wireless card, you will not be able to run WiFi attacks because these integrated WiFi adapters are not capable of running several WiFi injection attacks. be able to do all the cool stuff with aircrack-ng and other WiFi hacking tools included in Kali Linux.

WiFi Chipset

Before we start talking about brands of Wi-Fi compatible adapters with Kali Linux, let's look at another important factor: the Wi-Fi chip set used in USB Wi-Fi adapters. The wireless chipset is the brain or you can call it the mind of the Wi-Fi USB adapter that does all the calculations for this. It's the Wi-Fi chipset that determines if the Wi-Fi USB adapter is good or bad. The brand is irrelevant. It's the chip set of the USB Wi-Fi adapter we need to take care of. There are many Kali Linux compatible chipsets that can be used to make different injection packages and other attacks. The best that is used by most Wi-Fi pentesters is -

▶ Atheros AR9271

This chipset is compatible with the packet-based monitoring mode and the master mode, which allows it to be used as an access point to create a false access point for the Evil Twin attack. The only problem with this chip set is only compatible with a 2.4 gigahertz frequency.

TP-Link N150 TL-WN722N (Make sure you grab V1!)

This is the best Kali Linux WiFi adapter for beginners. TP Link N150 TL-WN722N is a cheap and compact WiFi USB adapter that can act as a wifi adapter for your desktop PC, an alternative to your wifi chipset integrated into your laptop and a very useful module during the trip. This USB WiFi adapter complies with the IEEE 802.11N standard and offers speeds up to 150 Mbps.

This is a plug and play adapter that is compatible with most versions of Linux including Kali Linux. It also have a 3 dbi omni directional antenna with will extend the range of transmission/reception which makes it perfect for indoor penetration testing.

Chipset : Atheros AR9271
Transmit Power :< 20dBm
Frequency :2.4 GHz
Supported OS :Windows 8.1 32/64bit, Windows 8 32/64bit, Windows 7(32/64bits), Windows Vista(32/64bits), Windows XP(32/64bits), Windows 2000, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Debian

Alfa AWUS036NHA

I have been using Alfa AWUS036NHA long-range network adapter and let me tell you guys this is the best WiFi adapter I have ever used. This one is compatible with any brand 802.11g or 802.11n router using 2.4ghz wavelength and supports mimo (multiple input multiple output) with high speed transfer TX data rate up to 150 mbps.

Chipset : Atheros AR9271

Transmitted Power : 28 dbm

Frequency : 2.4 GHz

Supported OS : Windows 8.1 32/64bit, Windows 8 32/64bit, Windows 7(32/64bits), Windows Vista(32/64bits), Windows XP(32/64bits), Windows 2000, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Debian

 

▶ Ralink RT307

Alfa AWUS036NH

Alfa provides the best USB WiFi Adapters for penetration testing. AWUS036NH is the IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wireless USB adapter with 150 Mbps speed This is also compatible with IEEE 802.11b/g wireless devices at 54 Mbps. You can configure AWUS036NH with ad-hoc mode to connect to other 2.4GHz wireless computers, or with Infrastructure mode to connect to a wireless AP or router for accessing to Internet.

This is also a plug and play adapter that is compatible with most versions of Linux including Kali Linux. The above product comes with a 5 dbi omni direction antenna as well as a 7 dbi panel antenna. It also comes with a clip which can be used to attach this adapter on a laptop.

Chipset : Ralink RT307
Frequency : 2.4 GHz

Supported OS : Windows 8.1 32/64bit, Windows 8 32/64bit, Windows 7(32/64bits), Windows Vista(32/64bits), Windows XP(32/64bits), Windows 2000, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Debian

 

▶ Realtek RTL88XX

Alfa AWUS1900

This USB WiFi Adapter will take your hacking skills to a whole new level. So far , this is the best WiFi adapter available for WiFi hackers. Even though its a bit costly, its totally worth the price.

It supports IEEE 802.11ac/a/n/g/b standards; that means it can manage 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (dualband), have a USB 3.0 Interface with a Wireless data rate of 600 Mbps for 2.4GHz & up to 1300Mbps 5GHz.

Chipset : Realtek RTL8814U
Standards : IEEE 802.11ac/a/n/g/b
Interface : USB 3.0
Wireless data rate : 2.4GHz [up to 600Mbps] & 5GHz [up to 1300Mbps]
Wireless frequency : 2.4GHz/ 5GHz
Wireless security : WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA/PSK, WPA2-PSK
Operation temp : 0-40°C
Operating systems : Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 32/64bit, MacOS 10.12 supported, Linux kernel 3.0 supported

Alfa AWUS036ACH

A few months back Kali Linux 2017.1 rolling was released and the popular distro came up with a significant update – Support for RTL8812AU Wireless Chipset. Alfa AWUS036ACH is a beast, with dual antennas and dual band technology (2.4 GHz 300 Mbps/5 GHz 867 Mbps) supports 802.11ac and a, b, g, n 

These antennas are removable and if you want higher range, you can connect antenna with greater dbi value and use it as a long range wifi link which makes this one of the best Kali Linux WiFi Adapter. 

Chipset : RTL8812

Frequency :2.4 GHz and 5 GHz

Supported OS :Windows 10, Windows 8.1 , Windows 8 , Windows 7, Ubuntu, Kali Linux, Debian

Panda PAU06

The Panda 300Mbps Wireless 802.11n USB Adapter with High Gain Antenna (PAU06) upgrades the WiFi interface on your computer to the latest 802.11n standard. Your computer can communicate wirelessly with any 802.11g/n wireless router at home, coffee shops, etc.

This one can provide a data rate of up to 300 Mbps with 802.11n standard and is backward compatible with 802.11g 2.4GHz wireless networks. Supported security features include 64b/128bit WEP, WPA and WPA2 (TKIP+AES).