Pure 802.11b NIC = WEP - only ?

Hi,

Is my understanding correct that pure 802.11b cards are supposed to support WEP and not WAP encryptions?

TIA, Eugene

Reply to
Eugene F.
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It's a firmware update to WPA (Presuming you meant WPA and not WAP).

Reply to
David Taylor

Wrongo. I think you mean WPA. There's nothing inherent in 802.11b that will prevent implementing WPA.

WPA encryption was designed to act as a temporary fix for the key exchange problems in WEP. It's primary design criteria is that it involved no hardware changes and minimal software changes. In theory, every card going back to the stone age of wireless that can do WEP should be able to also do WPA. The problem is that many vendors do not find it profitable to update firmware and drivers for cards they are no longer selling. Therefore, you should be able to get WPA on any currently sold devices, but will probably have trouble finding native WPA drivers for older cards.

There's also the problem of memory space on older cards. WPA requires

802.1x authentication which may not fit in the memory space available in older cards.

In addition, note that there's no requirement that WPA be implemented in the card driver. There are various external programs that implement WPA including Wireless Zero Config for XP.

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Yes, I meant WPA.

Reply to
E.F.

Jeff,

After I had problems with my Linksys WMP11 card I replaced it with Edimax EW-7126. This card "Supports 64/128-bit AES/TKIP/WEP Data Encryption function ...".

Please pardon my ignorance but does "TKIP" mean it supports WPA? If yes, is it the same "flavor" of WPA that is supported by my Linksys router (BEFW11S4 ver. 4 / original firmware)?

TIA, Eugene

Reply to
Eugene F.

Jeff,

Thank you very much for the reply.

What is the relationship between TKIP (that my hardware/drivers supposedly have) and WPA-PSK?

I read

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but still not sure.

Reply to
E.F.

Also I have Windows 98SE (not XP) on the desktop with Edimax card.

Reply to
E.F.

TKIP:

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TKIP is the key exchange mechanism used in WPA to replace the insecure method used in WEP.

The 1.52.02 version of the BEFW11S4v4 firmware only supports TKIP key exchange. Although it's listed as an option, TKIP is the only choice. For a home system, I suggest you use WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) as anything else requires a RADIUS server for the 802.1x authentication.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Well, I don't know if I can simplify the various protocols but I'll try.

802.11 is nothing more than encapsulated ethernet (802.3) packets. Under the 802.11 stuff is just plain old ethernet.

Everything is wireless is bridging with no IP addresses or routing involved.

WPA is a collection of protocols that defines how encryption takes place over 802.11 wireless.

WPA requires 3 underlying protocols:

  1. A method of encryption which is usually RC4 cypher but can also be AES which is used in WPA2.
  2. A method of secure encryption key exchange which is TKIP.
  3. A method of authentication which is EAP and PEAP plus assorted mutations. Normally, these are based on 802.1x authentication which requires a RADIUS server somewhere.

For home use, the RADIUS server for authentication is impractical so WPA-PSK (pre-shared key) was invented. The pre-shared key is used for both encryption and authentication.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Jeff,

You did it beautifully. Thank you.

Eugene

Reply to
E.F.

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