Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
1 Rookie
•
119 Posts
0
5558
February 15th, 2008 14:00
Security Mode
I'm new to wireless networking.
I currently have my Linksys WRT54G router confingured for WEP security. It is working great.
I noticed there are other security modes besides WEP
WAP Personal
WAP Enterprise
WAP2 Personal
WAP2 Enterprise
RADIUS
My Q? Is one better then the other? Are there advatages and disadvantages to each one.
NemesisDB
2 Intern
•
7.9K Posts
0
February 15th, 2008 17:00
WEP encryption has been broken. A person with the right tools can get your secret key within minutes.
Enterprise and Radius modes typically require a seperate server and lots of configuration, avoid them.
WPA (not WAP) is like WEP but fixes some of the underlying weaknesses in it. All but the oldest wireless hardware will support WPA. WPA is not perfect (if attacked in a certain way, the standards only solution is to turn the network off temporarily). It was a stop-gap measure until WPA2.
WPA2 (Personal) is your best bet for security. Older hardware might not be able to support it (if you have other computers?). Make sure you are using the latest drivers for your wireless cards. If using XP SP2 on other computers, install this patch: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893357
If you're ever feeling adventurous, checkout www.dd-wrt.com -- they offer (free but unsupported) software upgrades for many wrt54g routers. If your model is compatible, it's a great way to get extra features :D
edit: a primary weakness of WPA and WPA2 personal is the passphrase you choose. Make it long and make it random. At least 20 characters (upper and lower case and numbers). Also, if given the choice once you select WPA2, pick AES only mode.
Phoenix_123
1 Rookie
•
119 Posts
0
February 15th, 2008 17:00
Thank you for your time. A very helpful response. My router supports WPA2 and checking my laptop it does also. The choice is obvious.
Again Thanks!!!