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Benjamin Coddington wrote:
>> All of them.. I think its the nature of the information exchange in
>> WEP.. When a client tries to connect to a non-broadcasting SSID, it has
>> to transmit the SSID -- anyone listening can then hear the SSID.

Indeed. I was referring (unfairly, of course) to a prior paragraph in
which the article says, basically, that the clients are yarping
constantly for any non-broadcast network that are in their "preferred
networks" list, no matter where they are. Thus, the _clients_ are
constantly betraying the "secret" network, even when they're not
connected to it. (ESPECIALLY when they're not connected to it.)

I'd presume this to be standard behavior (it is reasonable from an
engineering standpoint, after all) across wireless implementations. My
lack of clarity, earlier, stems from a desire to make a quick post.

>> I think they are saying that 'non-broadcast SSID' != 'secure SSID'.

Exactly, and a sage observation on their part. I was just surprised to
find it in a TechNet article. I've never seen a *nix-focused HOWTO on
wireless networking point this out AND give the reasoning behind it.
(Many of those rely on the old "obscurity is not security" saw and only
pay vague lip service to "sniffers could find them" without going into
_how_.) :-)


Cheers,

- -sth

sam hooker|http://www.noiseplant.com|i am between the internet
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