Wireless Router Security
in [Wireless]
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From: Lone Star on 4 Dec 2009 19:39 OK, simple question: do I really need to set up WEP or WPA security for my Linksys WRT 54GS if the closest public point to my property is around 500 feet away? I plan on broadcasting my SSID likewise. I'm thinking, perhaps mistakenly, that the speed to my home computers (wireless) will be faster without the encryption. Comments? Thanks. EW
From: john on 4 Dec 2009 20:13 Lone Star wrote: > OK, simple question: do I really need to set up WEP or WPA security for my > Linksys WRT 54GS if the closest public point to my property is around 500 > feet away? I plan on broadcasting my SSID likewise. > > I'm thinking, perhaps mistakenly, that the speed to my home computers > (wireless) will be faster without the encryption. Comments? Thanks. > > EW > > WPA is more secure with out question.
From: Lem on 4 Dec 2009 20:59 Lone Star wrote: > OK, simple question: do I really need to set up WEP or WPA security for my > Linksys WRT 54GS if the closest public point to my property is around 500 > feet away? I plan on broadcasting my SSID likewise. > > I'm thinking, perhaps mistakenly, that the speed to my home computers > (wireless) will be faster without the encryption. Comments? Thanks. > > EW > > By all means broadcast your SSID. Disabling SSID broadcast does not provide any meaningful security and may cause problems. http://blogs.technet.com/steriley/archive/2007/10/16/myth-vs-reality-wireless-ssids.aspx Although the nominal max outdoor range for 802.11G is around 300 feet, it's possible that the signal from your router could be picked up from farther away than that by someone with a high-gain directional antenna. While there may be some speed loss when using encryption, particularly with older equipment, in general it will be hardly detectable. You are far more likely to have noticeable speed loss based on signal strength (e.g., walls/floors between your router and your computer). And unless you are transmitting large files, e.g, streaming video, from one computer on your LAN to another, your data transfer rate will be limited by your Internet connection unless you have super-premium cable service. In the end, you have to decide whether you want to milk that last few bps out of the connection in exchange for the risk, however small, of someone accessing your system. If I had a 500-foot perimeter around my house, I'd still encrypt my wireless network. -- Lem Apollo 11 - 40 years ago: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html
From: Jack [MVP-Networking] on 4 Dec 2009 21:45 While early WEP might slow down and create some other difficulties, WPA is almost neutral. Thus No point to Risk your system even if the probably that someone around would log to your system is low. From the weakest to the strongest, Wireless security capacity is. No Security Switching Off SSID (same has No Security. SSID can be easily sniffed even if it is Off) MAC Filtering______(Band Aid if nothing else is available, MAC number can be easily Spoofed). WEP64____(Easy, to "Break" by knowledgeable people). WEP128___(A little Harder, but "Hackable" too). ------------------- The three above are Not considered safe. Safe Starts here at WPA. ------------------- WPA-PSK__(Very Hard to Break). WPA-AES__(Not functionally Breakable) WPA2____ (Not functionally Breakable). Note 1: WPA-AES the the current entry level rendition of WPA2. Note 2: If you use WinXP bellow SP3 and did not updated it, you would have to download the WPA2 patch from Microsoft. <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893357> The documentation of your Wireless devices (Wireless Router, and Wireless Computer's Card) should state the type of security that is available with your Wireless hardware. All devices MUST be set to the same security level using the same pass phrase. Therefore the security must be set according what ever is the best possible of one of the Wireless devices. I.e. even if most of your system might be capable to be configured to the max. with WPA2, but one device is only capable to be configured to max . of WEP, to whole system must be configured to WEP. If you need more good security and one device (like a Wireless card that can do WEP only) is holding better security for the whole Network, replace the device with a better one. Setting Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html The Core differences between WEP, WPA, and WPA2 - http://www.ezlan.net/wpa_wep.html Jack (MVP-Networking). "Lone Star" <ewyatt_del_me-(a)excite.com> wrote in message news:hfca9p$36d$3(a)news.datemas.de... > OK, simple question: do I really need to set up WEP or WPA security for my > Linksys WRT 54GS if the closest public point to my property is around 500 > feet away? I plan on broadcasting my SSID likewise. > > I'm thinking, perhaps mistakenly, that the speed to my home computers > (wireless) will be faster without the encryption. Comments? Thanks. > > EW > >
From: Pavel A. on 4 Dec 2009 23:00
"Lone Star" <ewyatt_del_me-(a)excite.com> wrote in message news:hfca9p$36d$3(a)news.datemas.de... > OK, simple question: do I really need to set up WEP or WPA security for my > Linksys WRT 54GS if the closest public point to my property is around 500 > feet away? I plan on broadcasting my SSID likewise. A simple answer: you really want to secure your network, using the latest and greatest techniques. Yes, even you. > I'm thinking, perhaps mistakenly, that the speed to my home computers > (wireless) will be faster without the encryption. Comments? Thanks. Well... here goes a bit longer reply: The truth that wi-fi vendors don't want us to know is that certain protocols used in WPA are quite sensitive to timeouts and packet loss. So, when the signal is weak (as at the limit of the coverage area), WPA can become fragile, to the degree noticeable by users. With the recent "N" standard hardware, reception is much more robust, that users feel as faster connection and less interruptions. So the complete answer is, the good security works better with the good (newer, less cheap) hardware. Regards, --pa |