Wireless Security?

Andyt_uk · 3 Apr 2006 at 15:02

Just trying to get myself clued on the state of wireless security at the moment for part of a report I'm writing. Know we all know WEP can be broken quite easily in not a huge amount of time. The next step being WPA. Just wondering if anyone knew whether this was also easily breakable?

Also has anybody heard about WPA2 and AES? I've read a load of articles which state AES is still being developed, although these are possibly 2/3 years old.

And to conclude whats considered the most secure option now or the future of Wireless Security?

Cheers all

tolien · 3 Apr 2006 at 15:19

Given majority of folks using WPA are using WPA-PSK, the biggest weakness is in the PSK itself. Eliminate that, and everything gets a whole lot better.

AES isn't still in development - a lot of newer kit will quite happily do it. Extra CPU load involved though.

Andyt_uk · 3 Apr 2006 at 15:24

yeh i'm guessing the reports were fairly old(03-04). I know WPA2 makes use of AES which needs an extra chip. I'm guessing that at the moment WPA2 with a radius is going to be the most secure option, although it wouldn't be 100% backwards compatible.

CossackNoodle · 3 Apr 2006 at 16:48

didnt realise it was so insecure i recently started using mac address control so only certain ones can access my asdl does that improve security?

Mikey1280 · 3 Apr 2006 at 17:19

MAC listing might help but addresses can be easily spoofed, you cannot rely on MAC listing alone.

Andyt_uk · 3 Apr 2006 at 18:12

If your not already its best to run WPA instead of WEP, although it is still crack-able it takes quite a while longer.

Anyone know whether they length of the key used in WEP effects the time it takes to crack it? I did read it somewhere but i've lost it now.

ants83 · 3 Apr 2006 at 18:49

i use WPA PSK and Mac address should be safe enough unless you have some crazy hacker living nearby!for most people this should do.