I'd have to go with the silver one (which I did), as it is cheaper, and because WEP is broken and cannot be relied upon for security:
(from http://www.cs.rice.edu/~astubble/wep/wep_attack.html) ----------------------------------------------- 5. Conclusions We were able to implement the attack described by Fluhrer et. al. in several hours. It then took a few days to figure out which tools to use and what equipment to buy to successfully read keys off of 802.11 wireless networks. Our attack used off of the shelf hardware and software, and the only piece we provided was the implementation of the RC4 attack, along with some optimizations. We believe that we have demonstrated the ultimate break of WEP, which is the recovery of the secret key by observation of traffic. Given this attack, we believe that 802.11 networks should be viewed as insecure. We recommend the following for people using such wireless networks. - Assume that the link layer offers no security. - Use higher-level security mechanisms such as IPsec [3] and SSH [8] for security, instead of relying on WEP. - Treat all systems that are connected via 802.11 as external. Place all access points outside the firewall. - Assume that anyone within physical range can communicate on the network as a valid user. Keep in mind that an adversary may utilize a sophisticated antenna with much longer range than found on a typical 802.11 PC card. The experience with WEP shows that it is difficult to get security right. Flaws at every level, including protocol design, implementation, and deployment, can render a system completely vulnerable. Once a flawed system is popular enough to become a target, it is usually a short time before the system is defeated in the field. ----------------------------------------------- Karthik, you may wanna put this link up in the Links list on the BRLUG site. John Hebert -----Original Message----- From: Karthik Poobalasubramanian To: '[email protected] ' Sent: 8/11/03 2:22 PM Subject: Re: [brlug-general] wifi + college campus = playground for hax0rs was RE: [brlug-gene ral] Wireless adapter question (for college) steven, I would suggest regular NIC card if you have a access. Go for wireless if its physically not possible to get to a RJ 45 socket. As far as selecting gold or silver choose the one that's cheaper. and as Mighty John says WEP isn't secure. so it really doesn't matter if you use 64 or 128bit. also ULL should support WEP I am pretty sure LSU doesn't. karthik _______________________________________________ General mailing list [email protected] http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
