• What should I do to secure my Linksys (or other) wireless network?
• How do I ensure compatibility of WEP keys between products?
• What firmware is my wireless router compatible with?

A. Following the following recommendations you can be reasonably sure that your wireless network will be safe and secure from "War Drivers" and casual hackers.

1. Change your SSID and your default password on your Access Point.

2. Setup MAC Filtering and ALLOW only the MAC addresses of devices on your network owned by you.

3. Shut off SSID Broadcasting so as to not advertise your wireless network's existence.

4. Use the highest level of WEP encryption you are allowed by your Access Point and client devices. Note that on Linksys AP's you can choose 256-bit WEP, however client products only support upto 128-bit.

5. Change your WEP keys often and do not use the passphrase generator, use any of the random number generators freely available on the web and convert the decimal number to hex.

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by griff99 edited by Lanik
last modified: 2005-06-22 00:01:07

When using a pass phrase to generate a WEP key there is no guarantee the same key will be generated on 2 different products. This is especially true when using routers, WAP and/or wireless access cards from varying venders.

If you do use a pass phrase, and it does work for you, then it is entirely possible for someone to hack your WEP key, with a dictionary attack, or even just by guessing.

The best WEP, known as a “Strong WEP Key”, key is a randomly generated 128-bit (or 64-bit if you must) key. However, coming up with a completely random set of 16 acceptable characters (0-9 A-F) is, next to, impossible.

To generate a STRONG WEP key, you can use the generator located at:
»www.warewolflabs.com/portfolio/p···skg.html

If you are concerned about using this web-based generator, never fear…There is a downloadable application available at:
»www.kingsley-hughes.com/tech/sec···/wep.htm

Some experts, recommend changing your WEP keys weekly. With one of the these applications making it so easy to generate strong WEP keys, you now have no excuse not to follow that advise.

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by KrankyKoder edited by Lanik
last modified: 2005-06-22 00:01:35

There is a thread over at »www.linksysinfo.org that has an excellent chart to answer this question.

»www.linksysinfo.org/forums/showt···?t=47124

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by Lanik
last modified: 2008-10-13 00:11:41