WEP is Dead – Secure Your WiFi With WPA, WPA2

I have written before about securing your WiFi network. I overcome the standard arguments of

• There is nothing on my network worth anything
• I don’t care if someone uses my bandwidth
• It’s too hard

with the news that someone engaging in illegal activity on YOUR WiFi will get the police at YOUR door. And at the too hard part I respond “go to my website” and “ever heard of Google?”.

No one listens but I have long complained about new WiFi devices supporting only WEP. Isn’t it an oxymoron (emphasis on the moron) that many newer security cameras only support WEP?

No WiFi router I know of will support multiple security protocols simultaneously, so that means you have to reduce your WiFi security to the lowest common denominator. And WEP stinks.

Here’s the proof that WEP is dead.

Do you think, after reading the article, that cracking WEP is more complicated than anyone in your neighborhood can accomplish? Maybe, since kids can be lazy. And if you live in the USA, rest easy. We have very few engineering students these days. Most of the world’s engineers are currently being trained in China. 9/11 took care of that. We don’t allow ambitious foreigners in anymore; just persistent crop workers (although we need those too, I’m told).

There is no excuse in the industry for being so slow to convert to WPA and WPA2. And for not building devices capable of security upgrades. But the consumer doesn’t demand it, so…

WEP is good for only one thing. It keeps the uninitiated, who unwisely have their laptop configured to automatically connect to any open WiFi signal (including hacker honey pots), from automatically connecting to yours.

But if someone wants to steal bandwidth, or engage in illegal internet activity, WEP is useless at stopping them. Unless of course, your neighbor has obliged by keeping his WiFi open, thus sparing you by providing an even easier target.

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