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General discussion

Wireless Security Issue

Feb 11, 2005 10:26AM PST

I ahve been using the Trend Micro Pc-Cillin and have found out that someone has been using my wireless internet. I have never wanted to use security because i read that it would slow down my speed. I have decided now to put security. THe only problem is i don't know which WAP to use. I know WEP can be hacked easy so im going to use WAP. Here are the options i have:
WAP Pre-Shared Key
WAP Radius

Which one do I use? I'm thinking its the Pre-Shared Key one but when i choose that i get to options:
WAP: AES and TKIP
WAP-PSK

Which one of those do I pick?
Also when I go to see the options on my wireless card I see that WEP is under data encryption and WAP is under network authentication. Why are they both in different categories?

Last thing is I read the guide from my router and it only said that WEP would slow my speed down. Does WAP do the same?


Thanks a lot,

Discussion is locked

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Look into MAC filtering.
Feb 11, 2005 11:15AM PST

Simple and effective.

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Look into MAC filtering.
Feb 27, 2005 1:24AM PST

Rookie here, let me see if I've got this right...
MAC filtering can be set up to allow only certain machines in or to keep them out. WEP or WAP are encryption types that the machines in your network use to communicat with each other. Which one to use (WEP or WAP) is dependent on the server. Would that be my ISP? If so, how do I find out which they support? I have comcast and they just tell me it's not their software so they don't support it...won't give me any more info. My choices for encryption are:
WPA Pre-Shared Keys; WPA Radius; Radius; or WEP.
Under what conditions would encryption be necessary if I have all machines blocked except my one wireless and one hardwired? I have a linksys wrt54gs router with firewall. Does the encryption close the "backdoor"? If encryption is a necessary thing then what does anyone know about 'Kerberos'.
Thank you

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It's a simple matter of layers of protection.
Feb 27, 2005 1:46AM PST

I noted MAC FILTERING since many owners can handle it with ease without risk of the network falling apart around them. Here's the issue which I can't solve for you.

Many makers of these routers and WAPs are not on the same (music?) sheet when it comes to WEP, WPA, etc. I've seen and you may read many posts in these forums where "it worked until I enabled WEP" or another security feature.

As it stands you implement the security that works for you and your hardware. There is no hope I will know which works with your collection of Wifi hardware.

And as you can tell, comcast begs off too...

Bob