Toshiba encryption options

My new Toshiba L35-S2171 laptop uses a built-in Atheros wireless
LAN card. The Toshiba manual says there are two encryption options
- WEP and AES. Of course, the manual may be out of date, but if
it's correct, isn't TKIP missing? I ask because I still haven't
chosen a wireless router, and wonder is this should influence that
choice. I had tentatively decided on a Buffalo router, but have a
vague recollection of seeing somewhere that the Buffalos don't do
AES so well. I don't want to be stuck with WEP.

Peabody <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>My new Toshiba L35-S2171 laptop uses a built-in Atheros wireless
>LAN card. The Toshiba manual says there are two encryption options
>- WEP and AES. Of course, the manual may be out of date, but if
>it's correct, isn't TKIP missing?

Muddle. WEP is an encryption method, that's not very good. The
corresponding authentication (open or shared) is equally insecure.

WPA is the replacement. The original WPA can use TKIP or AES for
encryption. It can also use PSK (pre-shared key) or RADIUS for
authentication. There are also an ever growing list of EAP
(extensible authorization protocols) for authentication. If you make
a complete list, there are about a dozen possible combinations of
encryption and authentication.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Authentication_Protocol>

>I ask because I still haven't
>chosen a wireless router, and wonder is this should influence that
>choice.

Yes. Make sure your router supports WPA-PSK with TKIP encryption as
that's the most common protocol. For additional security WPA2 with
AES and at least EAP-TLS.

>I had tentatively decided on a Buffalo router, but have a
>vague recollection of seeing somewhere that the Buffalos don't do
>AES so well. I don't want to be stuck with WEP.

Well, I'm tinkering with a WHR-HP-G54 using DD-WRT v23 SP2 firmware.
No problems. It has an unusual mode that will support WPA2 with a mix
of TKIP and AES, as well as a mix of PSK and RADIUS authentication. It
also does a mix of TKIP and AES for just WPA.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann says...

>> I ask because I still haven't chosen a wireless router,
>> and wonder is this should influence that choice.

> Yes. Make sure your router supports WPA-PSK with TKIP
> encryption as that's the most common protocol. For
> additional security WPA2 with AES and at least EAP-TLS.

Well at this point the problem is that the client card on
the laptop appears to support WEP and WPA-AES, but not
WPA-TKIP. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's what
the manual says. So I just wanted to be sure the router
would support WPA-AES since the only alternative appears to
be WEP.

Peabody <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>Jeff Liebermann says...
>
> >> I ask because I still haven't chosen a wireless router,
> >> and wonder is this should influence that choice.
>
> > Yes. Make sure your router supports WPA-PSK with TKIP
> > encryption as that's the most common protocol. For
> > additional security WPA2 with AES and at least EAP-TLS.
>
>Well at this point the problem is that the client card on
>the laptop appears to support WEP and WPA-AES, but not
>WPA-TKIP. I know that doesn't make sense, but that's what
>the manual says. So I just wanted to be sure the router
>would support WPA-AES since the only alternative appears to
>be WEP.

So much for the manual. You're right. It doesn't make sense to have
AES but not TKIP.

If it will WPA-AES, it should be able to do WPA-TKIP. Nobody makes a
client card that only does AES and not TKIP. Same with the wireless
router. Check the available settings on the Toshiblah L35-S2171. I
can't find anything specific about the model Atheros MiniPCI card used
in this laptop.



--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann says...

>> Well at this point the problem is that the client card
>> on the laptop appears to support WEP and WPA-AES, but
>> not WPA-TKIP. I know that doesn't make sense, but
>> that's what the manual says. So I just wanted to be
>> sure the router would support WPA-AES since the only
>> alternative appears to be WEP.

> So much for the manual. You're right. It doesn't make
> sense to have AES but not TKIP.

> If it will WPA-AES, it should be able to do WPA-TKIP.
> Nobody makes a client card that only does AES and not
> TKIP. Same with the wireless router. Check the
> available settings on the Toshiblah L35-S2171. I can't
> find anything specific about the model Atheros MiniPCI
> card used in this laptop.

Ok, thanks for your help. At the moment the computer is
giftwrapped, and won't be available to play with till the
25th. So I'm just working with the manual I downloaded from
Toshiba.

I went ahead and ordered the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router from
Buy.com. I signed up for Google Checkout, which provides a
$20 discount on this item. So the net cost, with the
free/slow shipping option, was $41.50. I think that's $10
less than the non-HP router at Best Buy, so it seemed like a
really good deal. Then I have to decide whether to flash
dd-wrt. Probably won't to start with.