v8sho

I have a small wireless home network- one WAP, 2 desktop computers, and 1 Axim occasionally.

I've been reading on this site about security and had a question or 2. It seems that the best security would be to set up MAC filtering. So, if a person set up MAC filtering and entered the addresses of their 3 wireless clients, what would be the advantage of implementing additional security such as changing/not broadcasting SSID's, etc.?

I was going to ask why I would need WEP but it seems that if I happened to enter a password into an internet site, that would keep someone from sniffing my data out of the air.

(For anybody just joining us, here is a link to a good discussion about securing your wireless network:
http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showt...=securing+your
)

PrMedic

If someone can sniff your wireless network then they can pick up one your wireless cards MAC addresses and spoof it on thier own card and they are connected.

If you allow broadcast SSID anyone can find your SSID even without a sniffer. Any XP box with a wireless card will show all broadcast SSID's. And what benefit is there to allowing it to broadcast ??

So if you really want to tighten up security don't allow SSID broadcast, use MAC filtering, and use WEP.

Depending on your hardware using WEP will cut your throughput anywhere from 3% to 50% depending on wether the encryption is done with hardware or software. Wireless has about a 50% overhead to start with, meaning with a good connection you only get about 5 meg actual throughput. On a software encryption router such as Linksys that cuts down to 2.5 if you use encryption. Of course this usually only matters if you are transfering large files on your LAN. If you are just sharing an Internet connection 2.5 is plenty.