Wireless networking has been an issue of security since its creation. With early technology it was simple to steal someone’s data or connect into their LAN. Some advances were made, such as encryption and the need for MAC (media access control) addresses on the access point, but it was still relatively simple to bypass these security methods. New solutions in wireless networking security such as CCE, WPA, and AES are helping to destroy misconceptions and improve security
The first real standard for wireless security was WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection). It did not live up to its name. WEP offered only basic security. Free utilities available online can be used to find wireless networks and attempt to gain access, such as AirSnort. Its simplicity to crack comes from the use of a static 40 or 128 bit encryption key. This key had to be entered manually on every device wanted to communicate with the WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network). T
The government has been using DES (Data Encryption Standard) for nearly 26 years. This is a standard which is long past its prime. While it has been recertified every 5 years since 1977, it is not perfect. In 1997 a group of professionals used thousands of computers connected on the internet to successfully crack the system. In the early 90’s they implemented Triple-DES, which uses three separate 56 bit keys to encrypt and decrypt data, it is time for a new standard. This new standard is AES. “A code-breaking scheme that takes only 1 second to defeat today's DES would need 149 trillion years to crack a 128-bit implementation of the forthcoming AES. (Encryption gets an upgrade)” However, weak hardware and software will more likely be the shortcoming of the new AES. Using 128, 192, and 256 bit keys, being optimized for use on devices with small amounts of memory, and implemented either by hardware or software, AES is the new way in Wi
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