Re: Linksys wireless ?

[Atul Chitnis <achitnis exocore com>]

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003, Rodolfo J. Paiz wrote:

> At 10:25 PM 4/11/2003 +0530, you wrote:
> >But from a cracker's perspective, the 128 bit WEP system is as easy to
> >crack as 40 bit.
> 
> 1. Why?

One word - AirSnort ;-)  (http://airsnort.shmoo.com/)

I think going indepth into this is a wee beyond the scope of this list. 
Most of the information is on the airsnort site - check the Introduction 
section for some useful links.

> 2. Is there any way to prevent such cracking?

You cannot prevent the actual cracking of the keys, but you can protect 
yourself from harm by using a VPN running over the actual Wifi link.

> 3. If there is an inherent flaw in the WEP protocol, do 802.11a or 802.11g 
> share such a flaw?

Yes, well documented and easily demonstrated. Until 802.11i becomes 
reality, I am afraid we will have to live with this.

> 4. Is there a way to patch or upgrade to avoid that flaw?

Not at this point. WQork is afoot to come up with a more secure protocol, 
but it will take a while. In the meanwhile, solutions like running a VPN 
over WiFi can help..

Note, however, that irrespective of all this - running an encrypted link 
does have a deterring effect and will protect you from casual snoopers, so 
even though an encrypted link slows you down by almost 60%, it is still 
safer than a totally unencrypted link.

I suggest a visit to the tutorials section on http://www.80211-planet.com/
for more information, where this stuff is more on-topic. ;-)

Hope this helps,

Atul

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Atul Chitnis       | achitnis exocore com
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
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