Linksys Router + Switch

BeerCheeze · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:10:28 Post Subject:

LOL! SSID on or off... not that important. WPA, or WPA2 is (specially in a campus environment).

Blue|Fusion · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:16:48 Post Subject:

I should be using WPA2, but I just never take the time to figure out how to use wpa_supplicant on my laptop in Linux, when WEP is so quick and easy.

Question for the wireless gurus:
When I use the MAC Address Filter and only allow my MAC address to connect, does that prevent other MAC address connecting before the WEP/WPA authentication is even accepted? Also, is the MAC address spoofing easily done, i.e. changing the HWADDR in ifconfig in Linux?

BeerCheeze · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:55:09 Post Subject:

Yes, it checks MAC before WEP/WPA. And MAC address spoofing is VERY easily done

Here's a guide to almost all OS's

http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/changemac

Blue|Fusion · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:40:19 Post Subject:

OK, another related question to that MAC stuff...

If one were spoofing MAC addresses, how easily could they figure out which MAC address to use that will allow them to connect? Could they brute force different MAC addresses to the router or pinpoint my laptop MAC address out of the air waves? Mind you, my laptop isn't on THAT often.

EDIT:
Scratch that. Found that answer in that article EC gave me.

T-shirt · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:01:01 Post Subject:

At best MAC filters prevent people from accidently connecting to the wrong WLAN in a crowded (many AP's) enviroment. used with IP filtering is slightly better, if the AP has a narrow available IP range (one STATIC IP per permitted device) WEP probably just makes you and interesting target/challange, for your local haxor.
All of these can be broken in minutes by someone with a little knowledge and some freely available software.
WPA will block many attempts to play with your system but TKIP can be broken
Only authenticated WPA2 is considered fully secure.

Your best hope is to make your WLAN obscure (long and non-standard, non-broadcast SSID, lowest useable power output, direction antenna aimed in a direction with the lowest possible/likely contacts) and more trouble than it worth to hack (best encryption available)

T-shirt · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:03:08 Post Subject:

BTW their are Linux tools all the way up to WPA2, if your hardware supports it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPA2

BeerCheeze · Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:02:12 Post Subject:

edvallie · Posted: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 10:02:35 Post Subject:

Do ya really need gigabit with a network that size? I mean I'm guessing your internet connection isn't amazing and its going to shoot back down the second it hits the wall jack/modem anyway.

Blue|Fusion · Posted: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 13:08:29 Post Subject:

Of course I don't NEED it. But I figure the transferes between the PCs will go faster (and streaming DVD ISOs and whatnot). I also plan to do testing on it here and then later implement it at the homestead where it would be a much more beneficial upgrade.

T-shirt · Posted: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 19:23:59 Post Subject: