What is "evil twin"

n. 1 (context idiomatic English) A duplicate or counterpart that acts in a contrary, nefarious, or insidious manner. 2 (context networking English) A rogue wireless access point installed near a legitimate one for purposes of eavesdropping or phishing.

The evil twin is an antagonist found in many different fictional genres. They are physical copies of protagonists, but with radically inverted moralities. In filmed entertainment, they can have obvious physical differences with the protagonist—such as facial hair (often a goatee), eyepatches, scars or distinctive clothing—that make it easy for the audience to visually identify the two characters. Sometimes, however, the physical differences between the characters will be minimized, so as to confuse the audience. Both roles are almost always played by either the same actor or the actor's actual twin (if the actor has one).

Though there may be moral disparity between actual biological twins, the term is more often a misnomer. In many cases, the two look-alikes are not actually twins, but rather physical duplicates produced by other phenomena (e.g. alternate universes). In others, the so-called "evil" twin is more precisely a dual opposite to their " good" counterpart, possessing at least some commonality with the value system of the protagonist.

An evil twin is a fraudulent Wi-Fi access point that appears to be legitimate, set up to eavesdrop on wireless communications. The evil twin is the wireless LAN equivalent of the phishing scam.

This type of attack may be used to steal the passwords of unsuspecting users, either by monitoring their connections or by phishing, which involves setting up a fraudulent web site and luring people there.

Evil twin is a literary device found in many soap operas and other television series.

Evil twin may also refer to:

• Evil twin (wireless networks), a method used to facilitate phishing
• Evil Twin (film), a 2007 South Korean horror film
• Evil Twin Brewing, a gypsy brewery in Denmark
• Evil Twins, two villains from the video game Crash Twinsanity
• Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles, a 2001 videogame by Ubisoft and In Utero
• The Evil Twin, nickname of Nick Catanese of the band Black Label Society
• Evil Twin Comics, a comic book publisher
• Evil Twin (EP), a 1993 EP by Hammerhead
• "Evil Twin" (Eminem song)
• "Evil Twin" (Arctic Monkeys song)
• Evil Twins (TV series), a documentary television series that first aired on the Investigation Discovery television network on July 26, 2012

Evil Twin is a 2007 South Korean horror film. When an accident claims the life of a young girl, Hyo-jin. Her twin sister, So-yeon fell into a coma and awakens 10 years later. Many deaths follows her recovery, and she seemingly takes on her sister's personality traits.

Evil Twin is an EP by Hammerhead, released on December 7, 1993 through Amphetamine Reptile Records.