[MLB-WIRELESS] Opinions/Facts about WEP

Matt Pearce mattpearce at optusnet.com.au
Thu Aug 29 16:37:07 EST 2002


Hi all,

Just been doing a little bit more digging on WEP.  It seems that there are to main parties in the arguments for(this party is not very large) and against(this party seems to be rather large) WEP.  Would I be correct in saying that WEP is good for basic security that stops anyone from driving by war(driving/walking/flying/etc) and gaining access to your data and free internet connection.

I have also been told that it can take about 2 hours on 40 bit and about 4 hours on 128 bit encryption to crack it and gain access, although the type of hardware this was run on was not stated and I am open to correction here.

Based on these time periods and the battery life of a laptop(most manufactures aim to make there batteries last for 2-3 hours I am told) that would make things just that bit harder to get into your network and up the chances of you getting caught.  So the logical conclusion here is that WEP has its function more to stop the basic hacking and unauthorised access rather than high level security for your data, anyone agree or disagree ??

Also can anyone tell me what the cost on the kB/sec is when WEP is running ??

Matt.
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