Upgrading wireless security

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 16:20

Just had a skim through wireless faq and have a few queries...

Im trying to upgrade the security of our wireless network (current SSID on/no MAC filtering and using bog standard 128bit WEP key). A really stupid question but when i disable the SSID, how am i meant to find the network? It wont show on avaliable networks

Also which secutiry protocol should i use? WPA Personal, WPA2 Personal or WPA2 Mixed? How do they work in terms of connecting to the network?

Thanks for the help

tolien · 14 Jun 2006 at 16:51

dbappa said:
A really stupid question but when i disable the SSID, how am i meant to find the network?

Specifically add it. Can't remember how the Windows config works, but in the drivers I used there was a box to specify an SSID to connect to.

Also which secutiry protocol should i use? WPA Personal, WPA2 Personal or WPA2 Mixed?

Ideally WPA2, but it depends what your other kit supports.

How do they work in terms of connecting to the network?

WPA should all be the same. You set a passphrase (up to 64 characters) on the router or whatever, and you'll have to provide it on all the client machines.

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 16:58

Cheers toilen (as always when i have inet/network issues), will give it a go

hp7909 · 14 Jun 2006 at 17:05

Found these useful:

hp7909

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 17:29

Ta - but whats the WPA key generator for? In router settings all it wants it to set up a passphrase...

Tried WPA2 Personal with a passphrase but no luck. It could see the network a few times (even though i turned off SSID), frist time it wanted a key (used passphrase) but wouldnt connect and next few times said the network was out of range. What am i doing wrong?

oddjob62 · 14 Jun 2006 at 17:33

dbappa said:
Ta - but whats the WPA key generator for? In router settings all it wants it to set up a passphrase...

Well there's enough people who stick in an easy passphrase (like "password" "12345" etc) This can easily be hacked by brute force / dictionary attacks. You can use a generator if you can't think of a good passphrase.

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 17:35

ah makes sense

lol i used deepspacenine as trial one

Any major difference between TKIP and AES encryption?

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 18:02

Ok my computer doesnt seem to like WPA, so gone back to WEP. One final question, do i want to use open or shared?

EDIT - Also in router settings for WEP, there are up to 4 WEP keys. Why is this?

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 22:00

anyone?

tolien · 14 Jun 2006 at 22:06

Waiting longer before bumping is always your friend.

dbappa said:
Any major difference between TKIP and AES encryption?

AES is stronger. WPA with AES is more or less WPA2 though.

EDIT - Also in router settings for WEP, there are up to 4 WEP keys. Why is this?

So you can choose between the 4?

One final question, do i want to use open or shared?

Shared.

doodah · 14 Jun 2006 at 22:09

Cheers people. A bit more secure now...WEP 128Bit/SSID off/MAC filtered

Now i have to figure out how to fix my fluxuating ping problem