need encryption or not.

[ericmichael]

I am new to wireless networks so I may have a stupied question. If we have a wired network and add a access point for users who has wireless nic's then is it alright and secure to have access granted by mac addresses. Do we need to still use encryption? Is WEP still o.k. to use for encryption purposes. Thanks in advance.

 

[vipergg]

I would use it even though WEP isn't the most secure,it is certainly better than not using it at all . Yes I know it's more work duplicating the keys between the clients and what's on the AP .

 

[Spirit]

MAC address's are very easy to discover and replicate.

WEP is very poor indeed but it stops some casual browsers. I personally don't use anything confidential on a PC connected to a wireless lan.

Duplicating the key is pretty easy just save it to a text file and distribute it. Kind of defeats the object of having WEPO but saves on Admin!

Iain

 

[ericmichael]

Thanks for all your input. How often should I change the WEP key if I do it manually. I read somewhere that it can be broken in minutes now. What is a respectable time for key use? Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Spirit]

Same length as a piece of java script!

Depends on your environment. every 20 - 30 seconds would make it a little more secure however the admin over head may be slightly too high.

Its Security V's Admin. Daily / Weekly / monthly / never.

If you have good monitoring, warning and reporting set up then I'd be lazy and go for either weekly or fortnightly.

Iain