Think your WEP wireless net is safe?? Think again

[mobo57]

Scary, very scary. I read the article, downloaded the software, an hour later I cracked my net and two others around me! Now WAP enabled.
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sections-article118.php

[crazyCol]

that is scary alright glad I don't use wireless, not that I have anything worth the effort but......

[computer_kid1]

I allready knew alot of the Part 1 but where is the Part 2 (where you actually crack the WEP code)?

[rraehal]

I don't think that part 2 is posted yet. The article date of part 1 is 5/10/05.

[computer_kid1]

O... I didn't notice that.

I will be interested to see if/how easy it is to get past my (my schools) wireless network.

[kwebb]

Originally posted by mobo57
Scary, very scary. I read the article, downloaded the software, an hour later I cracked my net and two others around me! Now WAP enabled.
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sections-article118.php

Nobody that has even a passing interest in WLAN's would think that WEP was going to keep anyone out that had the will, knowledge or desire to get in. WEP has been broken since it's inception 4 or 5 years ago. Within the last 2-6 months tools have been created that crack the initialization string in minutes if there is enough data running through it. In other words, this is not groundbreaking news.

[mobo57]

kwebb, true to all. But it is in the last six months where the tools have been put out there for anybody of limited knowledge to do it. Prior to this you had to have some understanding and arcane knowledge of WLAN, Linux and the necessary tools that the average n00b would have no clue either to their existance or use.
Kind of like the lock on the screen door to the front of your house. Now not only do the n00b's have a single key, instead of a bunch of unconnected tools to use, but a step by step guide on how to get in.
And it is the n00b I really worry about. The chance that a pro-hacker will get into either of my wireless net's is very low. It's that wannabe that makes me sweat. Steal my credit card numbers, no problem, I am only responsible for the first 50$. Hack my systems and steal my business and other data and cause some other sort of general rubbish? Thats what I am worried about.

[RamonGTP]

not groundbreaking, true enough. However its a good wakeup call, especially (as stated already) since it has gotten so much easier as of recient. I had a slight interest a while back to learn how to crack wep, but didn't persue it because I didn't have the time to to install/learn linux and use the popular sniffer at the time, airsnort. I'm sure there are plenty of folks like me, that now would pick back up on that interest becuase of these new and much easier to use tools.

[urdvurk]

I've been wondering about this.

I'm thinking about connecting my girlfriend's laptop to our network through a wireless connection, but if anybody with a laptop and a little patience can get in I'm not going to.

Is there no way to make wireless networks more secure, perhaps by making people enter a username and password or something?

[cdroman]

Originally posted by mobo57
Scary, very scary. I read the article, downloaded the software, an hour later I cracked my net and two others around me! Now WAP enabled.


If you were WPA capable; why were you using WEP?

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by urdvurk
I've been wondering about this.

I'm thinking about connecting my girlfriend's laptop to our network through a wireless connection, but if anybody with a laptop and a little patience can get in I'm not going to.

Is there no way to make wireless networks more secure, perhaps by making people enter a username and password or something?

WEP+WPA+MAC address filtering is a good start. That should definatly keep novice/wannabe hackers out of your system, and should be enough for the experienced ones to move on to an easier target, unless they REALLY don't like you or there is something on your network they really want.

[Strawbs]

Wireless is still pretty rare in UK homes thus far. As a result - anyone buying into wireless is more likely to get one with WEP + WPA security by default. My new setup, for instance, has a one touch security setup option that maximises all security settings using WPA + AES encryption. I didn't know much about WLAN security when I actually made the purchase either - but I've read plenty in the past 2 weeks & it appears I got lucky.

It's really only those that went wireless some time ago that are at risk of losing data\bandwidth to sniffers IMO.

[mobo57]

I was one of those early users. Got two new wireless routers with WPA this a.m. Done and over with.

[steves]

Originally posted by Strawbs
Wireless is still pretty rare in UK homes thus far.

Not anymore! Over the past 12 months I've had numerous non-tech people ask for help/info about wireless. Of our freinds/family with more than 1 PC (or a laptop) the majority of these have now gone wireless. Make's me feel low tech as our house is almost fully cabled (all properly hidden) and I only replaced the last peice of coax with cat5 last year!

Also ensure all network shares are limited to "authenticated users" only and don't allow read access for "everyone".

[rraehal]

Originally posted by urdvurk

Is there no way to make wireless networks more secure, perhaps by making people enter a username and password or something?

It is my opinion that no wireless netork will be 100% secure. With that being said this is how we set up our office:

We have a cisco VPN concentrator at our corporate office. We use cisco AP's. They let use use the VPN to autheticate users. The user autentication is based on 3 things. The right username and password, remote access rights on the domain, and memebership in our VPN group.

The drawback is that users autheticate in Michigan before access our LAN locally in Colorado.

The wireless keys are regenerated on a set interval for all wireless users. The first key is set when authenticating at the VPN concentrator.

I think our setup is more complicated than what you are looking for, but you can set up user/password access. Perform a google search for RADIUS WIRELESS SERVER to see wjat is available.