Forum Home
PC World Chat
 
Thread ID: 77606 2007-03-15 11:30:00 WPA vs WEP - Which should you go for? Chilling_Silence (9) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
533272 2007-03-15 11:30:00 Just been reading here:
www.informit.com

Makes me more inclined to stick with 128-bit WEP rather than WPA...

Thoughts / Comments / Discussions?
Chilling_Silence (9)
533273 2007-03-15 14:51:00 It's a WIFI thing...and I never trusted things that zip thru the air...so I use hard wire instead. :yuck:

That keeps the electricalonics in line and the don't leak all over my neighbor's driveway. :lol:

Going striper fishing now...report at 6PM. :thumbs:
SurferJoe46 (51)
533274 2007-03-15 18:21:00 I'll stick with WPA-PSK if they are just as easy to crack as each other.
WPA-PSK is easier to set up than WEP.
Not everyone is going to know how to crack them anyway.
CYaBro (73)
533275 2007-03-15 19:07:00 I've said it a number of times - neither WEP nor WPA can be trusted. The best solution for a network which needs additional security is a VPN over the unencrypted wireless link. A decent VPN (not PPTP) will be much more secure than any encryption built into a wireless card. TGoddard (7263)
533276 2007-03-15 20:52:00 Who cares. Only the Nintendo Wii wireless it at our place. bob_doe_nz (92)
533277 2007-03-16 02:19:00 Goody, it's poll day :)

I don't care, I don't use wireless. :thumbs:
Murray P (44)
533278 2007-03-16 06:59:00 I've said it a number of times - neither WEP nor WPA can be trusted. The best solution for a network which needs additional security is a VPN over the unencrypted wireless link. A decent VPN (not PPTP) will be much more secure than any encryption built into a wireless card.
Hi TGoddard. I have never heard of such setup before. Would you care to elaborate more about that please?

Cheers :)
Renmoo (66)
533279 2007-03-16 10:54:00 Basically I just mean using a two layered setup. You have an unencrypted wireless network but this network has access only to one computer, the VPN server. Clients which connect to the network have no access to any other resources. Clients must then log in to the VPN server, which will form an encrypted link much like those used for secure sites (OpenVPN (http://openvpn.net/) actually uses the same encryption system). The result is that each client has a separate, encrypted link to the VPN server, which provides the client's useful network connection. This deals with a few issues in wireless security:


Wireless network security usually allows clients to intercept other clients' transmissions.
Wireless security schemes are designed to run on inexpensive hardware. As a result they tend to be less secure. The VPN server runs as software, significantly reducing the cost of strong encryption.
Wireless network security does not provide good authentication by itself. Using advanced authentication methods to connect can prove more difficult and no more reliable than using a VPN.
Fixing security problems in wireless security systems requires replacing hardware. VPN security problems require a software update or change of software.
Wireless security has received comparatively little peer review of the algorithms and techniques involved. With some notable exceptions, VPN software usually avoids black magic.


For a normal home network none of this really matters. For a business however, it is important to at least understand the advantages and disadvantages of both weaker and stronger security options.
TGoddard (7263)
533280 2007-03-16 11:21:00 Uhh, I posted that then got lost in another tab for longer than the editing period. The [ link ] tags were supposed to be [ list ] - the result would have been a lot prettier. TGoddard (7263)
533281 2007-03-16 19:26:00 None of our PCs support wireless (all desktops) so we use good ol' wire. It's faster too. pcuser42 (130)
1 2 3 4