Securing Campus Wi-Fi Against MITM Attacks: Penetration testing, student awareness and a multilayer defense model

Campus Wi-Fi networks remain vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks due to outdated protocols, weak configurations, and low user awareness. This study evaluated the Wi-Fi security posture at the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Makassar (UNM) using penetration testing, controlled MITM simulations, and a cybersecurity awareness survey (N = 120). Results showed that 70% of access points (APs) used insecure or misconfigured settings, enabling high MITM success in ARP spoofing, DNS spoofing, and SSL stripping. Student awareness was low, with only 28% understanding MITM and 18% routinely using VPNs. A multilayer security architecture integrating WPA3, VPN tunneling, VLAN segmentation, and Snort-based IDS reduced MITM success by 78% and achieved 92% detection accuracy. These findings highlight the importance of integrated defenses and continuous user education.