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« In-Flight Mobile Voice, Data Moves to 2008 in UK | Main | 400 Mbps Home Powerline Networking »

October 19, 2007

Why WEP Cracks Still Matter

The BCC reports that British Telecom uses WEP on its home networks: I'm not sure whether BT enables WEP by default on their home Wi-Fi routers, or if you can't upgrade to use WPA or WPA2 at all. However, this makes the WEP crack that will be discussed by AirTight researchers at ToorCon this weekend all the worse. I tend to think of WEP as so 20th century--something used only in despair. In fact, this BBC article makes clear that WEP is still in wide circulation because of compatibility issues.

I think of Windows XP as the default operating system for Windows users; there are still plenty of pre-XP home users out there, too. (WPA can be used on some pre-XP systems, depending on drivers and other factors.) The other day, a colleague received email from a graphic designer who uses Mac OS 8.6 and is still happy with it, but is considering updating. That's a nearly decade-old system release. I suppose I'm too sanguine about WEP's availability.

2 Comments

I have recently helped a few friends/relatives set up their Qwest wireless routers, and the included setup card, separate from the main instructions, walks you through setting up WEP. No mention of WPA. But when I dig into the router's config pages, WPA is actually right there ready and waiting to be used. I ignore the instructions and instead set them up with WPA and a much friendlier password (easier to use, not easier to crack).

So you don't even have to go overseas to find WEP as the default.

Well, why not go after ATT/SBC/USwest/whatever former DSL. There are so Many Issues, Why have an Default SSID called 2Wire/BTHOMEHUB/BTOFFICEHUB we know calling these shows the world, thats its DEFAULT, and the WEP key = SSID and Serial number and MAC Address (shhhh its a secret), as has been reported on the Netopia Routers for BT, but we all know the dirty secret.

WPA is viewed as diffcult to configure, but Even wpa-psk would be a little better.

Home Networking, and Vendors, and Consumers are all to blame.

I think Consumers as always thinks, who wants my data. The truth is plenty of spammers, botnets, etc.