Getting a Wireless Router. Advice on Security

[MS_Project]

I'm planning to purchase a Wireless Router next month (during Christmas season)

From your experience and knowledge, what Wireless Router would you recommend?

Recently my wireless laptop has found a few connections in my neighborhood. I've noticed two types of security features on them:

Autentication Level: WPA-Personal
Data Encryption: TKIP

Autentication Level: Open
Data Encryption: WEP

They are TKIP and WEP. I did a search on this but still don't know which one is more secure.

-Price wise: Nothing over $130
-Distance wise: It's primarily used in a house. Not a big house. Medium sized.
-Don't really need those MIMO technology

Thanks

[Riflem@n]

WRT54GL

Use WPA2 AES

[matkun]

WEP is an older standard that is very easy to break if the person has a mind to. However older wireless cards cannot do WPA, so people still use WEP for compatibility reasoons.

WPA2 is more then good enough, assuming your wireless adapaters support it.

[willy]

WRT54GL ... +1

Based on your requirement and budget, it will serve you fine. And it should cost ~ $60-70.

WPA(2) is all you need. I would suggest you write down the admin password as well as the WPA(2) key on a piece of sticky note and paste it at the bottom of the router.

[BB88]

WRT54GL ... +1

Based on your requirement and budget, it will serve you fine. And it should cost ~ $60-70.

WPA(2) is all you need. I would suggest you write down the admin password as well as the WPA(2) key on a piece of sticky note and paste it at the bottom of the router.

Willy has been encouraging people to stick the password at the bottom of the router... we may find his house key under the carpet at his pouch! j/k ;)

+1 to WPA2. I heard people can crack WPA already. Check out http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189/ for router reviews... there are routers that take big hit on security encrytion.

[Dave98]

Willy has been encouraging people to stick the password at the bottom of the router... we may find his house key under the carpet at his pouch! j/k ;)

+1 to WPA2. I heard people can crack WPA already. Check out http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189/ for router reviews... there are routers that take big hit on security encrytion.

Both WPA2 and WPA can be bypassed. The strength of WPA(2) is all in the passphrase. You shouldn't use weak dictionary based passphrase's like "password".

generate a key with random characters like "km43$&^/2Der#e43e3" of up to 63 characters and it will never be "cracked". This goes for both WPA and WPA2.

Use AES instead of TKIP with WPA1 and security wise, it'll be identical to WPA2


That's the difference between WEP and WPA. With WEP, it doesn't matter how random your passphrase is. It CAN be cracked. With WPA, the stronger the passphrase, the harder it is to crack.

[Jin-n-Juice]

generate a key with random characters like "km43$&^/2Der#e43e3" of up to 63 characters and it will never be "cracked". This goes for both WPA and WPA2.

As I said in this post (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5951999#post5951999), google WPA key generator so you can get totally random keys like the example above.

[BB88]

The problem with using random password is you will never be able to memorize it by your brain, that means you have to record it down somewhere.. and that also means there is a possiblity of being stolen.

[Dave98]

The problem with using random password is you will never be able to memorize it by your brain, that means you have to record it down somewhere.. and that also means there is a possiblity of being stolen.

What I do is carry the key in a text file in a USB thumb drive. That way, any computer I need to connect to the network, I just plug in the thumb drive, then copy and paste. Nice and easy.

If I was really paranoid about losing the thumb drive and getting the key stolen, I could encrypt the text file in a truecrypt volume. However, that would personally be a bit of overkill since if it was ever stolen, it would only take me 10 seconds to change the key anyway.

Also, you have to take into account the security issue. If you use WPA with a dictionary based password, it's actually possible to crack WPA even faster than WEP. So... use a random password and risk it being stolen somehow or use an easy to remember password that can be cracked without you even knowing it.

[Jin-n-Juice]

The problem with using random password is you will never be able to memorize it by your brain, that means you have to record it down somewhere.. and that also means there is a possiblity of being stolen.

I keep the WPA key in a text file on my USB key. I also keep a copy of text file on my computer. If I end up losing my USB key, it's not that hard to go into my router and change the WPA key and for a few computers.

The worst part was trying to put the WPA key into my Wii... :eek:

[KorruptioN]

The problem with using random password is you will never be able to memorize it by your brain, that means you have to record it down somewhere.. and that also means there is a possiblity of being stolen.

I've memorized my random 20 character string ;)

www.grc.com/passwords.htm

edit: Linksys WRT54GL + WPA2 & AES

[willy]

Willy has been encouraging people to stick the password at the bottom of the router... we may find his house key under the carpet at his pouch! j/k ;)
Damn, busted ... Now willy is quietly moving that key underneath the 5th brick from the left ... shhhhhh http://www.dolnetwork.com/RFD/smilies/shhhh.gif

[MS_Project]

Thanks for all of the suggestions
I will consider that Linksys GL router