Pi Alert

Scan the devices connected to your WIFI / LAN and alert you the connection of unknown devices. It also warns if a "always connected" device disconnects. In addition, it is possible to check web services for availability. For this purpose HTTP status codes and the response time of the service are evaluated.

Cybersecurity & Ethical HackingPHPGPL-3.0

Abstract

Pi Alert is an open-source Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking project. Scan the devices connected to your WIFI / LAN and alert you the connection of unknown devices. It also warns if a "always connected" device disconnects. In addition, it is possible to check web services for availability. For this purpose HTTP status codes and the response time of the service are evaluated. Pi.Alert keeps an eye on your Wi-Fi and LAN and lets you know when something changes. It discovers devices on your network, tracks their availability, and provides a web interface for managing everything in one place. It is built using PHP. The complete source code is publicly available on GitHub under the GNU General Public License v3.0, making it a useful reference for students building a Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking mini project or final-year project.

1. Introduction

Pi.Alert keeps an eye on your Wi-Fi and LAN and lets you know when something changes. It discovers devices on your network, tracks their availability, and provides a web interface for managing everything in one place.

Need visibility into another network segment? The companion Pi.Alert-Satellite project can scan independently and send its results to an existing Pi.Alert instance.

See how this version compares with the original project.

2. Objective

Scan the devices connected to your WIFI / LAN and alert you the connection of unknown devices. It also warns if a "always connected" device disconnects. In addition, it is possible to check web services for availability. For this purpose HTTP status codes and the response time of the service are evaluated.

This project demonstrates how PHP can be applied to a real-world Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking problem.

4. Technology Stack

PHP

5. System Requirements

General requirements for this technology stack — check the README for exact versions.

  • PHP 7.4+ with a web server (XAMPP / WAMP / LAMP)
  • MySQL / MariaDB
  • phpMyAdmin (optional)
  • Git (to clone the repository)

6. Installation & Setup

git clone https://github.com/leiweibau/Pi.Alert.git
cd Pi.Alert
sudo bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/leiweibau/Pi.Alert/raw/main/install/pialert_install.sh)"

Full setup instructions are in the project README.

7. Future Enhancements

Suggested extensions you can add to make this your own project.

  • Add logging and alert notifications (email / Telegram)
  • Write a threat model document for the tool
  • Package it with Docker for safe lab testing

8. Viva / Review Questions

Common questions examiners ask for projects in this domain.

  1. Which threat or attack does this project defend against?
  2. What detection or protection technique is used and what are its limits?
  3. How are false positives and false negatives handled?
  4. Which cryptographic algorithms or security standards are involved?
  5. What legal and ethical rules apply when testing a tool like this?

9. Source Code & License

This project is developed by leiweibau and published on GitHub under the GNU General Public License v3.0. Please follow the license terms and credit the original author when you use or modify this code.

View Source on GitHubDownload ZIP

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