WRT54G Security

Jul 17, 2005 3 Replies

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lpaulson3 21 years ago

Ok, on the box of my WRT54G it says "Will support up to 128-bit encryption" but under my Router's control page, it gives me WPA as a choice (Which is

256-bit encryption). I would like to use WPA but I don't know if it actually has WPA abilities and if the WPA option is just on all Linksys routers but the choice actualy does not work. I know my notebook can use WPA but the adapter on my computer (WMP54G), can it decode WPA 256-bit? Again, it gives it as an option on the PCI adapter's menu when adding a network profile but again, on the box, it says "up to 128-bit encryption"

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Yves Konigshofer 21 years ago

Even the original version of the WRT54G supports WPA-PSK with both TKIP and AES encryption. Just turn it on.

In addition to turning on WPA-PSK encryption, be sure to change the default password of the WRT54G. This router runs Linux and so a large part of the firmware is open source. Just as there is 3rd party feature-laden firmware for the WRT54G there can also be hostile firmware that can be flashed onto a WRT54G if someone gets access to it.

-Yves

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lpaulson3 21 years ago

Should I choose TPK or AES? I'm going to use the pre-shared key for it but I would like to know which algoritum would be best for optimum security.Also how short should I set the group key renewal to? Also what about my Desktop card, WMP54G, does it support WPA? I appreciate the help.

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Yves Konigshofer 21 years ago

I'm not sure about the WMP54G but it should support WPA with the latest drivers. If you enable WPA-PSK on the router, you will quickly find out if your card supports it or not. BTW: make all changes to your router using a wired connection.

There is currently not much of a security difference between TKIP and AES because both are considered secure. However, AES is considerably stronger and is now used by the government to encrypt sensitive data (as a replacement to DES). The only known security problem with both TKIP and AES is the choice of passphrase. The longer the better. It does not have to be some completely random sequence of characters; just something that would be nearly impossible to discover by a brute force attack (e.g., a short sentence that includes a typo).

-Yves

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