[ale] wireless sanity/security check

[Michael Trausch]

The thing is that WPA2 not only relies on not-ancient hardware, but also
compliant hardware.  WPA2-PSK support is fairly common, and most people will
find that as being their weakness due to generally weak passwords.  Most
people still run WEP, and do not change their network SSID from its default.

The only provable way to secure a wireless network thay has sensitive
information on it (in the sense that you would not want someone stealing the
data on your network because you could be sued or whatever) is to use strong
encryption and access control.  A VPN provides both, depending on what type
of VPN is being used.  And it will work with very old WiFi hardware, too,
which is a plus for many people I know.

It does require more setup... but for many reasons it is worth it if your
wireless network is for more than just guest use.  And you won't get your
Internet shut off because they were able to come in as a guest and send out
all sorts of things your ISP doesn't like.

    --- Mike

--
Sent from my ADP1 Phone running Cyanogen

On Jan 3, 2010 11:54 PM, "Pat Regan" <thehead at patshead.com> wrote:

On 01/03/2010 11:10 PM, wolf at wolfhalton.info wrote: > What is the solid
range of 802.11a..g? or eve...
That might be the limit with your stock antenna and transmitter.  This
'sniper rifle' wifi antenna claims to be able to connect at 10 miles:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/03/wi-fi_aerial_gun/

DIY pringles cantennas are cheap and get great range.

> If you route the cables discretely, your wives probably wouldn't >
complain too long.
I'm sure not going to haul a cable out every time I want to take the
laptop out to the couch.  Wifi also comes in handy for our cell phones.

> Put your WAP on a VLAN that has no access to the wired core, and then >
your (legitimate) guests ...
As far as I know, the only attacks on WPA2+AES are brute force
dictionary attacks.  If you have a strong random password and disable
TKIP you should be in very good shape.

Pat

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