SolveYourProblem
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Wireless Networking
Wireless
Encryption:
Dealing with Security Threats
by Jeff Cohen
If
you don't want your network to fall victim to snooping or
people 'borrowing' your bandwidth, then you're going to need
to lock down your network. Luckily for you, all wireless
technology has encryption built in -- it's just a matter
of turning it on.
WEP
vs. WPA
Security
on wireless networks does have a flaw, though -- there are
two completely incompatible standards, which makes it a pain
to set up a whole network to use encryption.
How
did this happen? Well, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) was
the original standard for encryption over 802.11 wireless
networks. Back in 2001, though, a research paper was published
called 'Weaknesses in the Key Scheduling Algorithm of RC4'.
This paper demonstrated critical flaws in the security of
WEP that made it trivial for someone to break into, if they
wanted to.
Essentially,
it is too easy to discover the secret 'key' used for WEP,
and once you have the key, you can get into the network and
stay in for as long as you want. People quickly recognized
that it was almost useless to use WEP on their network --
but by the time its weaknesses were discovered, the WEP method
was built into almost every piece of wireless equipment out
there.
The
WEP standard had to be replaced, and in 2003 WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access) was introduced as its replacement, fixing most of
its flaws. WPA is much more secure than WEP. Unfortunately,
though, WPA took a long time to reach the market, and WPA
devices were expensive when they were released. Combine this
with the fact that WEP is still the default in a lot of software
(because it's supported by more devices), and you end up
in the confused situation we're in today.
Always
Use WPA
If
you're going to enable encryption, always use WPA. Devices
bought after 2003 or so should be compatible with it, as
the upgrade was made a mandatory part of the standard.
It
is true that WEP is better than nothing -- it will, at least,
deter the casual intruder, who won't try any more than double-clicking
to get onto your network. WEP can also make you less of a
target for wardrivers, since there will be so many completely
open networks that they might as well use instead. However,
it's silly to use WEP nowadays when WPA is so easily available.
Turning
on Encryption
Turning
on encryption in Windows isn't too difficult, but it does
involve quite a lot of clicking -- no wonder so few people
bother.
The
first step is to turn on encryption for your wireless router
or access point. The exact method for this will vary between
devices, but you can usually do it by visiting the router
or access point's configuration page in your web browser,
finding the encryption settings, and then choosing WPA. If
you have any trouble, refer to your manual.
Once
you've done that, you need to change the encryption settings
on your computers. Open the 'View Available Wireless Networks'
screen by right-clicking on your wireless connection in the
bottom-right of the screen and choosing it from the menu
that appears. Then click 'Change advanced settings'. Go to
the Wireless Networks section of this box, click your network's
name, and then click Properties.
Now,
where it says 'Network authentication', select WPA. Click
OK on everything you've opened. Once you've done that --
this is the really fun part -- you're going to have to do
it for every computer on your network!
It's
Easier for New Networks
While
the process is quite troublesome for existing networks, it's
much easier for ones that haven't been set up yet. You'll
still need to turn on encryption at the wireless router or
access point, but once you've done that you can set up encryption
as you set up the network using the Wireless Network Setup
Wizard.
Unfortunately
(and stupidly) Windows now turns on WEP by default when you
set up your wireless network. This means that each time you
go through the wizard, you need to remember to tick the box
on the third screen that says 'Use WPA encryption instead
of WEP'. Still, it's easier than changing the settings manually
later on.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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