Do I need WEP?

I am adding a wireless AP to my network primarily for my DVR. I could care
less if someone gains access to the data being wirelessly transmitted
because it's nothing more than TV shows and channel guide data. As I
understand it, WEP only protects the data being transmitted and does not add
any protection against people entering the network and getting access to
data on my wired LAN that is sensitive.

Is this correct? If I have sensitive data on my wired LAN, but non-sensitive
data being transmitted wirelessly, do I need to bother with WEP?

WEP is not very secure. You might do better to enable MAC address
filtering, on your AP, if it has that feature.

Bill Crocker


"Roy N." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:fPCTb.163064$Rc4.1272677@attbi_s54...
> I am adding a wireless AP to my network primarily for my DVR. I could care
> less if someone gains access to the data being wirelessly transmitted
> because it's nothing more than TV shows and channel guide data. As I
> understand it, WEP only protects the data being transmitted and does not
add
> any protection against people entering the network and getting access to
> data on my wired LAN that is sensitive.
>
> Is this correct? If I have sensitive data on my wired LAN, but
non-sensitive
> data being transmitted wirelessly, do I need to bother with WEP?
>
>

Roy N. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I am adding a wireless AP to my network primarily for my DVR. I could care
> less if someone gains access to the data being wirelessly transmitted
> because it's nothing more than TV shows and channel guide data. As I
> understand it, WEP only protects the data being transmitted and does not add
> any protection against people entering the network and getting access to
> data on my wired LAN that is sensitive.
>
> Is this correct? If I have sensitive data on my wired LAN, but non-sensitive
> data being transmitted wirelessly, do I need to bother with WEP?

No, if you don't mind strangers being able to see the machines on your
wired LAN. WEP also controls access to a wireless network. If you don't
use WEP, you might consider a wireless router instead of a plain access
point.

Bill Crocker:
>WEP is not very secure. You might do better to enable MAC address
>filtering, on your AP, if it has that feature.

Wrong answer. There are two aspects to wifi security:
1. MAC filtering to prevent people connecting to your network. Not
foolproof, some wifi kit allows MAC spoofing.

2. Encryption. To stop unauthorised / wardrivers UNDERSTANDING your traffic.
WEP is not quite secure enough, there are tools to crack it given enough
data, your MAC could be discovered too. But it's better then nothing. WPA is
best, but drivers are often not available for older kit.
Regards,
Martin

"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:duDTb.1684$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Bill Crocker:
> >WEP is not very secure. You might do better to enable MAC address
> >filtering, on your AP, if it has that feature.
>
> Wrong answer. There are two aspects to wifi security:
> 1. MAC filtering to prevent people connecting to your network. Not
> foolproof, some wifi kit allows MAC spoofing.
>
> 2. Encryption. To stop unauthorised / wardrivers UNDERSTANDING your
traffic.
> WEP is not quite secure enough, there are tools to crack it given enough
> data, your MAC could be discovered too. But it's better then nothing. WPA
is
> best, but drivers are often not available for older kit.
> Regards,
> Martin
>
>

I'm not following you.

What is a wardriver?

What is a kit?

What is WPA? What is the driver for? My AP does not use any drivers, so I'm
not sure what device a WPA driver would apply to.

"Neill Massello" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1g8jlku.z587r21tr53ygN%neillmassello@earthlin k.net...
> Roy N. <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> > I am adding a wireless AP to my network primarily for my DVR. I could
care
> > less if someone gains access to the data being wirelessly transmitted
> > because it's nothing more than TV shows and channel guide data. As I
> > understand it, WEP only protects the data being transmitted and does not
add
> > any protection against people entering the network and getting access to
> > data on my wired LAN that is sensitive.
> >
> > Is this correct? If I have sensitive data on my wired LAN, but
non-sensitive
> > data being transmitted wirelessly, do I need to bother with WEP?
>
> No, if you don't mind strangers being able to see the machines on your
> wired LAN. WEP also controls access to a wireless network. If you don't
> use WEP, you might consider a wireless router instead of a plain access
> point.

What do you mean by "see?" I don't care if outsiders can "see" that there
are other boxes on my network. What I definitely don't want is for them to
have access to the data on those boxes. Will WEP help me keep intruders eyes
out?

How will a router help me if I don't use WEP? I'm actually using a wireless
router as an AP. But I already have a firewall and proxy server in my
network, so I'm using the wireless router as an AP and for MAC filtering.
Will adding WEP add any security to the wired part of my LAN?

Roy N. wrote:

> What do you mean by "see?" I don't care if outsiders can "see" that there
> are other boxes on my network. What I definitely don't want is for them to
> have access to the data on those boxes. Will WEP help me keep intruders
> eyes out?
>

An intruder will have access to all of your network, if they can see the
computers. Use WEP and preferably a VPN.
--

Fundamentalism is fundamentally wrong.

To reply to this message, replace everything to the left of "@" with
james.knott.

yOn Tue, 3 Feb 2004, Roy N. wrote:
> "Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:duDTb.1684$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Bill Crocker:
> > >WEP is not very secure. You might do better to enable MAC address
> > >filtering, on your AP, if it has that feature.
> >
> > Wrong answer. There are two aspects to wifi security:
> > 1. MAC filtering to prevent people connecting to your network. Not
> > foolproof, some wifi kit allows MAC spoofing.
> >
> > 2. Encryption. To stop unauthorised / wardrivers UNDERSTANDING your
> traffic.
> > WEP is not quite secure enough, there are tools to crack it given enough
> > data, your MAC could be discovered too. But it's better then nothing. WPA
> is
> > best, but drivers are often not available for older kit.
> > Regards,
> > Martin
> >
> >
>
> I'm not following you.
>
> What is a wardriver?

A person who goes around, scanning for wireless networks to access. Mostly,
these people are interested in accessing the Internet, not your home/work
computer. However, there may be some who are looking to do malicious things.

> What is a kit?

He probably means equipment.

> What is WPA? What is the driver for? My AP does not use any drivers, so I'm
> not sure what device a WPA driver would apply to.

WPA is the current replacement for WEP that doesn't suffer from the known flaws
that WEP does. So far, WPA does not seem to have been exploited.

"James Knott" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:<pOLTb.147696$(E-Mail Removed) able.rogers.com>...
> Roy N. wrote:
>
> > What do you mean by "see?" I don't care if outsiders can "see" that
there
> > are other boxes on my network. What I definitely don't want is for them
to
> > have access to the data on those boxes. Will WEP help me keep intruders
> > eyes out?
> >
>
> An intruder will have access to all of your network, if they can see the
> computers. Use WEP and preferably a VPN.

VPN? On a private LAN? How do you do that?

My understanding of what a VPN is does not work on a LAN. How do I do this?
Feel free to guide me information if you'd rather not explain it all.

The driver comment has to do with your wireless card, not the access point.
Your wireless card drivers need to support WPA if you choose to use WPA.
Your access point may need updated firmware too in order to support WPA.
For WPA, you can typically use either WPA with RADIUS or WPA with a
preshared key. WPA is superior to WEP with WPA preshared key being the less
desirable over WPA with RADIUS. The WPA preshared key though is the
simplest WPA method to setup and does not require additional servers and
software.

Jeff


"Roy N." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:VnJTb.171979$nt4.761323@attbi_s51...
>
> "Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:duDTb.1684$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Bill Crocker:
> > >WEP is not very secure. You might do better to enable MAC address
> > >filtering, on your AP, if it has that feature.
> >
> > Wrong answer. There are two aspects to wifi security:
> > 1. MAC filtering to prevent people connecting to your network. Not
> > foolproof, some wifi kit allows MAC spoofing.
> >
> > 2. Encryption. To stop unauthorised / wardrivers UNDERSTANDING your
> traffic.
> > WEP is not quite secure enough, there are tools to crack it given enough
> > data, your MAC could be discovered too. But it's better then nothing.
WPA
> is
> > best, but drivers are often not available for older kit.
> > Regards,
> > Martin
> >
> >
>
> I'm not following you.
>
> What is a wardriver?
>
> What is a kit?
>
> What is WPA? What is the driver for? My AP does not use any drivers, so
I'm
> not sure what device a WPA driver would apply to.
>
>
>
>
>