[dba-Tech] Wireless security

John Colby jcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Mon Nov 3 18:56:30 CST 2003


OK, so now that we have all the exspurts here, let's have a discussion on
wireless security.  I just got my wireless network up and running.  I think
I have tightened things up a little bit by not broadcasting my SSID and
limiting access to a single MAC address, the card in my laptop.  The issue
though is that AFAIK the data still is being broadcast in the clear.

I was reading an article where using a new program just released, a hacker
could sit and monitor all traffic out of a computer without ever having to
transmit anything.  Just listen.  Doing so allows them to eventually (and it
only takes a matter of hours) crack the WEP encryption, and WEP is all that
the wireless router I am using provides.

The question then is, can Win2K Pro transmit / receive ALL network traffic
encrypted using more secure built-in encryption stuff?  Is anyone doing
this?

Also, even though WEP is less that secure, the recommendation is still to
use it since it keeps the script kiddies at bay.  But I haven't figured even
that much out.  My wifi router and notebook card are by different companies
and don't use the same terms etc in their software.  Is there anyone on this
list familiar enough with that stuff to assist me in getting WEP encryption
turned on?

TIA

John W. Colby
www.colbyconsulting.com




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