Dealing with security threats: Wireless encryption premier.

If you want to keep people off your network, you will have to lock down your network. Fortunately, all wireless technology is equipped with encryption- you only have to turn it on, here's how.

WEP Vs. WPA

The flaw in security on wireless networks, is the completely incompatible standards, which means that setting up a whole network to use encryption is not easy.

How could this be possible? Well, the original standard for encryption over 802.11 wireless networks was actually WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). Back in 2001, though, a research paper called 'Weaknesses in the Key Scheduling Algorithm of RC4' was published identifying significant mistakes in the security of WEP that allowed people to easily break in.

Basically, as finding the secret 'key' used for WEP is not very difficult, people can get into the network and stay in for as long as they want without difficulty. As a result, people quickly realized that using WEP on their network was quite pointless. However, by the time its weaknesses were discovered, the WEP method was built into almost all wireless equipment out there.

The WEP standard was replaced in 2003, when WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) was launched, fixing the majority of its flaws. Even though WPA is significantly safer than WEP, it took a long time for it to reach the market, also because these devices were quite expensive when they were first introduced. If we add to this the fact that WEP is still present in a lot of software (because it's supported by more devices), you can easily understand the chaotic situation we're in today.

Always Use WPA

If you want to set up encryption, go for WPA. Devices produced after 2003 or so should be compatible with it, as the upgrade was made an obligatory part of the standard.

Surely enough, WEP is better than nothing, it will, at least, discourage the casual intruder, who will only try once to double-click to get onto your network. WEP can also make you a less attractive target for wardrivers, since they will rather prefer the other open networks out there. However, what's the point in using WEP today when WPA is so readily accessible?

Turning on Encryption

Turning on encryption in Windows is quite easy, even though you will have to go through quite a lot of clicking.

First, you should turn on encryption for your wireless router or access point. How you do this depends on your devices, but you can usually do it by going to the access point or router configuration page in your browser, looking for the encryption settings, and then selecting WPA. If you have any problems, use your manual.

Then, you have to change the encryption settings by opening the 'View Available Wireless Networks' screen by right-clicking on your wireless connection in the bottom-right of the screen and selecting it from the menu you will find there. Once you've done this, choose 'Change advanced settings' and look for the Wireless Networks section of this box, select your network's name, and finally click Properties.

If you see 'Network authentication', choose WPA. Click OK on everything that appears, and finally, follow the same steps for every computer on your network!

It's Easier for New Networks

Even though the process is rather difficult for existing networks, it's much simpler for ones you don't have set up yet. You'll still have to turn on the encryption at the access point or wireless router, but from that point on, you can do the encryption set up as you do the network with the help of the Wireless Network Setup Wizard.

Unfortunately, when you set up your wireless network Windows will turn on WEP by default, which means that every time you use the wizard, you have to tick the box on the 3rd screen saying 'Use WPA encryption instead of WEP'. Don't worry, this is still easier than changing the settings manually later.

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