Igor Korot wrote: > > I'm kind of new to the wireless world. What is WPA authentication? > I have a LinkSYS wireless router at home, to which I connect from WinXP (it's > a dual-boot) > laptop. I set it up with the ESSID and the key. Does this mean I'm using the > WPA authentication?
There are several forms of wireless encryption. One is WEP - the original form for wireless, which uses either 64- or 128-bit keys. In each case, 24 bits are exposed so the actual key is only 40 or 104 bits long. Because of inherent defects in the mechanics of the encryption, it is possible to crack a WEP network in as little as 5 minutes. To increase the security of networks, a second form was developed that is called WPA-PSK, or WPA Personal. Each message uses a distinct key, which makes it harder to crack the key from captured network traffic. WinXP SP2 can handle either kind. One way to tell is to look at the wireless security page of your AP. It should tell which you are using. Besides the two methods described above, there are others that are much more secure than WPA-PSK or WEP; however, these are less commonly used on home networks. Larry _______________________________________________ Bcm43xx-dev mailing list [email protected] https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/bcm43xx-dev
