[ubuntu-uk] WEP key

[Andy]

Hi (from a different andy)

On 30/05/07, London School of Puppetry <lspinfo at gmail.com> wrote:
> but what no-one has explained to me in what it looks like- In my hand I have
> something called 802.11b/g  Security Gateway.  Is this a WEP or  a WAP ?

Lets be careful not to confuse WAP and WPA.
WAP is what mobile phones use to connect to the Internet.
WAP may also mean a "Wireless Access Point" which is can provide Wifi access.

WEP and WPA are security layers for running on your wireless network.

Your wireless access point or router should be plugged into some kind
of modem (probably a cable modem).

You then need a Wifi card or adapter in your PC, and they will send
message to each other through the air. Unfortunately anyone can read
this messages.

This is where WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access) come in. WEP was implemented badly and can be broken by an
attacker easily.
Both techniques where supposed to prevent people seeing your traffic
or using your WiFi.


Do you have any more information about your WAP? It's common for
companies to name things confusingly so it's hard to know precisely
what you have in your hand.

What does it look like?

> I
> have  plugged it in to  the computer, then plugged it using another cable
> into my Alcatel Speed Touch Pro Router thinking I would get
> use of my lap top downstairs for Internet but lost all internet connection
> for both computers?
> Is there something not compatible?

Not sure why you would need to plug anything else into the router.
Is the router WiFi or non-wifi? (does it have two small antenna's on it?)

If it's not WiFi then you would need an extra WiFi Access Point. This
shouldn't need to be plugged into your PC as well (should use a
separate port on the router.)

You're wireless access point would need to be configured so it knows
it's only an access point to extend a network otherwise it will start
trying to hand out IP address and do NAT traversal which could be bad.
May even end up assigning 2 machines the same IP.

For those interested in WEP security you should know it's not that
difficult to break, there's a program in the Ubuntu repositories for
cracking WEP. (DON'T do this on a network you don't have permission to
do this on).

Hope that helps

Andy

-- 
First they ignore you
then they laugh at you
then they fight you
then you win.
- Mohandas Gandhi