More questions about WPA (sorry!)

Okay, further to the previous thread, I decided I would switch over to
WPA from WEP. I do not really require that level of security but
since the facility is there I figured I might as well use it.

Setting up WPA-PSK was a simple task, just telling the router the
passcode I wanted it to use and applying it. I then started the
laptop and and couldn't log in (it was offering up the 128 bit WEP
key). It was a simple matter in the Netgear GUI to switch to advanced
security and enter the key. The laptop then logged in successfully.

So am I now way more secure than before? The help information on the
router interface seems to think I am. However, and this is the bit I
don't get, why does the Netgear GUI on the laptop still show my
network has having WEP as its security when it scans for available
networks. Net Stumbler also has WEP as my security type. Am I
missing something here?

I even tried being smart. I set the router to use WPA-802.1x instead.
Of course now I couldn't even log in to my own network (what's a
radius server, btw) but I could still detect it with Netstumbler.
Still it said WEP, as did the Netgear GUI.

Clearly there is something about WPA which I just don't get! Anyone?

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 01:21:22 +0100, Simon Pleasants <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>
>
>So am I now way more secure than before?

Yes, assuming you entered a maximum length key.


>I even tried being smart. I set the router to use WPA-802.1x instead.
>Of course now I couldn't even log in to my own network (what's a
>radius server, btw)

If you need to ask that question dot 1x is not for you.



greg

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In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> I even tried being smart. I set the router to use WPA-802.1x instead.
> Of course now I couldn't even log in to my own network (what's a
> radius server, btw)
>
Radius servers tend to remote access authenication servers (normally
used by ISPs to authenticate users remotley onto the ISPs network), but
can quite happily be used to log a user onto a local network if needed
(BT ADSL based ISPs use radius as much as the dialup providers do).
--
The poster formerly known as Skodapilot.
http://www.bouncing-czechs.com

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 08:40:37 +0100, Greg Hennessy <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 01:21:22 +0100, Simon Pleasants <(E-Mail Removed)>
>wrote:
>
>>So am I now way more secure than before?
>
>Yes, assuming you entered a maximum length key.

I was just experimenting at that stage so no. I have subsequently
used a longer a more complicated key.

>>I even tried being smart. I set the router to use WPA-802.1x instead.
>>Of course now I couldn't even log in to my own network (what's a
>>radius server, btw)
>
>If you need to ask that question dot 1x is not for you.

I didn't think it was, I was just trying to work out why all my
scanning equipment showed my network security as being WEP when it is
actually WPA. No-one has commented on this particular question.

WPA-PSK is an absolute doddle. Using it appears to have made no
difference whatsoever in terms of throughput across the network, I
just can't figured why all the network scanning software calls it WEP.