Damned WEP!

[demondude]

I recently purchased the legend of zelda phantom hourglass on the DS,I also found out that wi-fi is free but there is a problem.
The wi-fi on the DS only allows WEP security and I have WPA.
I don't want to change the settings or buy the USB connector.

Any way around this?

[Discord]

I'm not familiar with the DS, but if it really only supports WEP, I don't think you can. Those are two completely different encryption modes. But as I've already said, I'm no expert when it comes to DS, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. (like you wouldn't anyway?:tongue:)

[rubah]

well, do you really have to have encryption on your router? You could just turn it off, and a lot of them will let you pick between the two modes.

[Baloki]

A firmware update has been released that enables WPA (I don't think it's official though so you'll need to google it), why not try that? Don't switch to WEP as it's flawed and rubbish!

[o_O]

You don't need any kind of encryption on your wireless, be it WEP, WPA or WPA2. Each IP packet that your router sends needs to be encrypted before transmission and decrypted afterwards, which adds to the processing time (or latency) of your connection. That's why I don't use it.

Here's what I do instead:
1. Switch off SSID broadcasting in your router. You know when you need to connect to a wireless network for the first time, you need to scan for the network name? If someone tries that with your network when you have SSID broadcasting off, your network won't appear in the list of available ones.
2. Switch on MAC filtering. The MAC address is a unique hardware identifier assigned to every physical network interface device. This includes ethernet cards, wifi cards, etc. Most routers allow a whitelist or a blacklist. Pretty self-explanatory there - the blacklist prevents specific computers from accessing the network; the whitelist only allows specific computers on. Obviously you should use the whitelist. All you need to do to get a new piece of hardware onto the network is add its MAC address into the list of MACs allowed to connect.

Note that it is still possible to have your network hacked this way, but it's no more possible than just having WPA. Besides, when there are so many unsecured networks, who is going to bother trying to spoof a hardware address to gain access to a network they don't even know exists? :p

I use my PSP, phone, laptop, desktop and my girlfriend's DS on my wifi regularly. :p

[Baloki]

You don't need any kind of encryption on your wireless, be it WEP, WPA or WPA2. Each IP packet that your router sends needs to be encrypted before transmission and decrypted afterwards, which adds to the processing time (or latency) of your connection. That's why I don't use it.

Here's what I do instead:
1. Switch off SSID broadcasting in your router. You know when you need to connect to a wireless network for the first time, you need to scan for the network name? If someone tries that with your network when you have SSID broadcasting off, your network won't appear in the list of available ones.
2. Switch on MAC filtering. The MAC address is a unique hardware identifier assigned to every physical network interface device. This includes ethernet cards, wifi cards, etc. Most routers allow a whitelist or a blacklist. Pretty self-explanatory there - the blacklist prevents specific computers from accessing the network; the whitelist only allows specific computers on. Obviously you should use the whitelist. All you need to do to get a new piece of hardware onto the network is add its MAC address into the list of MACs allowed to connect.

Note that it is still possible to have your network hacked this way, but it's no more possible than just having WPA. Besides, when there are so many unsecured networks, who is going to bother trying to spoof a hardware address to gain access to a network they don't even know exists? :p

I use my PSP, phone, laptop, desktop and my girlfriend's DS on my wifi regularly. :p

Aircrack finds etworks with SSID off and cracks them too :p I think it's Instantly for unsecured, 60 seconds for WEP, 10-20 minutes for MAC spoofing and 5 days+ for WPA and WPA2...

[rubah]

If the guy lives in a rather secluded area then he really doesn't need any security :p

[Discord]

If you don't have any network-wide shared folders, there's only a very little chance of something going wrong either. The worst thing that can happen is somebody using your connecting along with you and to cancel out 99% of those guys, just set up WEP. Ergo, just get WEP and don't share folders. Then you're secure enough.

[Baloki]

If the guy lives in a rather secluded area then he really doesn't need any security :p

That's like saying he needs no locks on his front door :p


If you don't have any network-wide shared folders, there's only a very little chance of something going wrong either. The worst thing that can happen is somebody using your connecting along with you and to cancel out 99% of those guys, just set up WEP. Ergo, just get WEP and don't share folders. Then you're secure enough.

There is the chance your connection could be used for something illigal and then YOU are responsible for it.

[rubah]

A lot of people in the country don't lock their doors.

There's probably more people looking to rob your valuables than to rob your internet, and if they do want to rob your internet, it's only your bandwidth, usually. "lol guys we didn't pay the phone bills, so I'm e-mailling you to tell you so you don't freak out! Love you! <s>Avarice-ness</s> YOUR FRIEND"

[demondude]

If the guy lives in a rather secluded area then he really doesn't need any security :p

I live in a busy part of oxfordshire.

[rubah]

well then there's plenty of other people you should be able to leech off of!

[Discord]

well then there's plenty of other people you should be able to leech off of!

That's true. Just for the sake of curiosity, I'm checking my surroundings now and it seems that all 6 Networks are encrypted with WPA or WPA2. I do however doubt that the police and students of a technical university are the best example for your average WLAN user. I've heard about a plenty of people using the networks belonging to somebody else for longer periods of time and never getting caught. Then again, nobody complained.

I agree with rubah on the matter. The only thing you should be careful about are your "shared folders".

[o_O]

Aircrack finds etworks with SSID off and cracks them too :p I think it's Instantly for unsecured, 60 seconds for WEP, 10-20 minutes for MAC spoofing and 5 days+ for WPA and WPA2...

But when there's a good chance of there being other unsecured networks in the area, what self-respecting war-driver is going to attempt to gain access to a network that could potentially take days to crack? :p

I don't know how common war-driving is in the outside of New Zealand, but it pretty much doesn't happen here. I guess that's why I'm so lax with my network. :p

[Baloki]

Aircrack finds etworks with SSID off and cracks them too :p I think it's Instantly for unsecured, 60 seconds for WEP, 10-20 minutes for MAC spoofing and 5 days+ for WPA and WPA2...

But when there's a good chance of there being other unsecured networks in the area, what self-respecting war-driver is going to attempt to gain access to a network that could potentially take days to crack? :p

I don't know how common war-driving is in the outside of New Zealand, but it pretty much doesn't happen here. I guess that's why I'm so lax with my network. :p

That's why people use WPA, MAC spoofing on the other hand only takes about 10 minutes to crack and usually is a faster line as the person using it obviously has some technical expertise :p

Also in the UK it's very common for people to break into other peoples wireless networks, it sucks :( But so does the state of our internet services, so it is understandable :p

[demondude]

Whenever I try to nab somebody elses network it requests the IP address.
And of course I don't have the IP address of somebody elses network, so I guess thats out of the equation?

[Baloki]

The network gives you an IP address xD

[o_O]

That's why people use WPA, MAC spoofing on the other hand only takes about 10 minutes to crack and usually is a faster line as the person using it obviously has some technical expertise :p

Also in the UK it's very common for people to break into other peoples wireless networks, it sucks :( But so does the state of our internet services, so it is understandable :p

Fair enough then. :p Here there are 5 different wireless networks every 10 metres, and people are stupid so maybe half of them are secured. Like I said, war-driving doesn't really happen (at least not to me or my friends/neighbours), so the chances of somebody actually knowing what MAC spoofing or cracking encryption is are quite low. I guess I'm lucky to live here then. :p

[Baloki]

No-one here knows, they just use a program called aircrack and it does it for them, people are lazy :(

[demondude]

The network gives you an IP address xD

It just says "unable to obtain IP address"

[Baloki]

That means you've been rejected :p

[demondude]

So I guess buying a USB connector for christmas is the only viable option?

[rubah]

Did you see if you could download a software update like baloki suggested?

[demondude]

Yep I tried that as well.

[Baloki]

Turn the security on the router down to WEP when you want to use your DS then turn it back up to WPA when you've finished?