Wifi380
01-22-2009, 04:39 PM
I was testing the security of my wireless network, and it seems I've stumbled upon a weakness that seems odd to me.
While attempts at cracking the WEP key to my network proved too hard to do (I don't have the knowledge or patience to compile programs suitable for windows), I read somewhere that entering "admin" as the WEP key would work to connect to the network.
It connected, but I got a message saying there was little or no connectivity. Further investigation showed that the host could not register my IP address.
Here's the weird part. I then opened up my wireless connections window, clicked on properties (while connected to the network in question), clicked on the wireless networks tab, highlighted the network, again clicked properties in this window.
A window pops up with the properties for the network that I've selected. Under the Association tab, I noticed that in the Wireless network key box, the drop down menus for Network Authentication and Data Encryption were not grayed out...I was able to change the settings for Network Authentication to "Shared", and the Data Encryption to "Disabled". I also noticed that the "Network Key" field was filled in with a password that was longer than the word "admin" and matched (as far as length is concerned, as it only showed dots) my WEP key.
I then disconnected from the network, and then reconnected, and BAM! I was fully connected to my network and able to surf the web.
Can anyone explain what the deal is with that?
While attempts at cracking the WEP key to my network proved too hard to do (I don't have the knowledge or patience to compile programs suitable for windows), I read somewhere that entering "admin" as the WEP key would work to connect to the network.
It connected, but I got a message saying there was little or no connectivity. Further investigation showed that the host could not register my IP address.
Here's the weird part. I then opened up my wireless connections window, clicked on properties (while connected to the network in question), clicked on the wireless networks tab, highlighted the network, again clicked properties in this window.
A window pops up with the properties for the network that I've selected. Under the Association tab, I noticed that in the Wireless network key box, the drop down menus for Network Authentication and Data Encryption were not grayed out...I was able to change the settings for Network Authentication to "Shared", and the Data Encryption to "Disabled". I also noticed that the "Network Key" field was filled in with a password that was longer than the word "admin" and matched (as far as length is concerned, as it only showed dots) my WEP key.
I then disconnected from the network, and then reconnected, and BAM! I was fully connected to my network and able to surf the web.
Can anyone explain what the deal is with that?