arrowone

At last I managed to get some security on my wireless network with the aid of this site:

SSID turned off
MAC registered
WEP enabled

Just a little clarification please currently I have the configure network authentication settings in WLAN as follows:

Authentication: Open
Data Encryption: WEP
Network key: (13 character key)

I note there are a lot more options and wonder whether I can / should improve on the above security. My router (Buffalo Air Station G High Power) has the following options:

WEP
TKIP
AES

AlbaJoe

you can improve it significantly by going to WPA_PSK....TKIP if your router supports it. WEP is the basic standard.

arrowone

In addition to WEP My router has:

AES with WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key)
Is this what you mean? How do I select this on the X51v
If I select Authentication = WPA-PSK then the only options under data encryption are WEP or TKIP.
How long should I make the encryption key?

I also have a TKIP option on router WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key)
What authentication and data encryption would I use on X51v?

Philhellene

As Alba_Joe says TKIP is more secure and from what you have listed your Buffalo supports TKIP.

Choose WPA-PSK as the Authentication and the option TKIP.

On the x51v you set it up for the same WPA and use the same phrase as on the router, otherwise router won't accepty traffic from the x51v.

As for encryption on the x51v I leave that to others - I use E-Wallet for stuff I don't want others to see but there are programmes available on the likes of handango to encrypt data. Try a search on these forums using the word encrypt or encryption and x51v.

For the difference between AES and TKIP try this link TKIP vs AES.

TKIP will look like WEP in that you use a phrase - PSK stands for Pre Shared Key but it is a much more secure version than WES. Steve Gibson's site GRC has a page where it would generate a unique random code for use in cases like WPA (it explains a little about the length/strength) but you need to make sure you have a copy as the page would give you a new key if you went back to it. A lot of people I know use a phrase that they can remember - note: it is case and punctuation sensitive, you need to copy the phrase exactly when adding it to machines to get on to the network. Steve and Leo have a great IT security podcast available on the site called Security Now.

What you have done works, it's just as you recognise there are a few more steps.

AlbaJoe

same process on your AXIM just make your phrases match up.

in your 'configure wireless' screen you should see a 'network key' tab. All tge options you need are there.

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ALBA GU BRA

arrowone

Not sure I understand it (or need to) but I now have TKIP working. Many thanks for the advice.

AlbaJoe

if you have poth your router and AXIM configuration setup with WPA_PSK & TKIP and you are connecting to the internet ok (if it wasn't setup correctly you wouldn't see your network) using the AXIM then your sorted and much better protected than before.

__________________
:hide: AlbaJoe :hide:

Moe (Simpsons) on judgement day:

"I've done things that I am not proud of, and I have done things that I am proud of that were quite frankly disgusting"


ALBA GU BRA

luge

Originally Posted by Philhellene

Steve Gibson's site GRC has a page where it would generate a unique random code for use in cases like WPA...

Does WM5 support 63 random printable ASCII characters ? I can't seem to get it working on the Axim, but the keys work fine on my PCs. I'm using WPA-PSK w/ TKIP on a x51v with Rom A12.

I've tried entering the key several different ways, like using SBP Fullscreen Keyboard and a Soti Pocket Controller macro, so I'm sure I'm entering the correct key. I even had the macro type the key into a text file and compared it to the key and it's the same, but I can't seem to connect. Sucks you can't paste into Password fields in WM5.

Any other suggestion or ideas? (other then using a simplier key )

luge

Well after trying an EZ key (aaaaaaaaaa) I still can't connect. I wonder if my Radio is broken, becasue when I shutdown Wifi, then turn it back on, the green light comes on but the Axim acts like it's turned off, ie No info in the Dell Wifi Client, and no connections listed in Network Cards... A soft-reset brings the radio back.

Philhellene

I'm at work so haven't had time to read all of the thread I am linking to but it covers problems one member had with tkip when wep worked OK Problems with WPA and x51v

Regards

Phil

Philhellene

In another thread Johnbjones said:

I have wrote about this before and I have found out the problem was with the dell
client trying to connect to an access point which was doing wpa-psk aes+tkip.
The dell wlan client is unable to finalize it's connection when the ap is setup in
this fashion. I believe this to be a glitch on dell's part causing it to bail out of
the connection attempt once it sees aes+tkip instead of just tkip. Using the odyssey
client I could get it to work but it made my x50v very unstable and I had a slow
wake up time. In the end I just setup another ap to do wpa-psk tkip and have my
main ap doing wpa-psk aes. Hopefully this is helpful.

Must dash as at work - Phil