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TekSpek 's
Wi-Fi
Date issued:
A typical wireless-capable home modem/router can support connections from multiple PCs – wired, as well as wireless. My own home network consists of three wirelessly-connected PCs and one connected by wired Ethernet but visitors who drop in with their PCs can hook up to the network either way.
In theory, it should be possible for the visitor (or someone out and about looking for a public-access hot spot) to simply activate their PC's wireless adaptor, scan for available networks and connect. Some early wireless technology couldn't do this, making it necessary for the user to know the name of the network and key it into the PC, along with the channel number - generally a whole number between 1 and 11.
But, when things work the easy, automatic way, they leave one large
question hanging over the use of WiFi – how can anyone's security
be guaranteed? The default setting in most wireless access points
is an open connection where anyone is free to connect to the network
– as typically used in public places such as an airport or
a café.
But no one wants a WiFi session to result in unauthorised access
to their data, so there are a number of levels of security that
can be imposed on a wireless network. WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol)
offers a method of securing your connection by a common password.
It has two flavours of encryption – 64-bit and 128-bit –
but 64-bit is far more easily broken than 128-bit by those with
malicious intent and can't be recommended.
With WEP, the user simply enters the key into the network-scanning software and, if it matches with the selected network, access is granted - without the correct key access is not permitted. Even 128-bit WEP has its shortcomings, though. It's suitable for preventing casual eavesdropping but a determined hacker can compromise a WEP-encrypted session by exploiting several weaknesses inherent in its design.
WPA (WiFi Protected Access) was developed to address some of these flaws by allocating a unique key for each users or, in the less-secure WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) version, a single key for all users. But even WPA-PSK has a 256-bit key and this changes regularly, providing greater protection.
So, WPA is more secure than WEP, and should be used if possible since it makes it far harder for an unauthorised person to access the network.
