Macbook CD and Linksys Router - WEP

[Spliff]

I am trying to setup WEP on my wireless network, and I have a Macbook CD and a Linksys 802.11g router. The WEP for my router is 64 bits 10 hex digits or 128 bits 26 hex digits. The airport in my MB is WEP 40 128 bits. Are these two compatible? It seems like I cannot setup WEP on my MB, or any security for that matter.

Pardon the stupid questions as I'm a dummy when it comes to network sorta stuff. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Star Destroyer]

I have a CD macbook, and i use a Linksys router, just the base model, black and blue ones, i forget the model number. But i set it up on WEP just fine, however I did call IT for Linksys about setting it up on my apple since on the box it doesnt list apples as compatible. She said it would work better if it was plugged in through Ethernet to configure the router or to just use a PC. I dont know if that helps, but really the point is- YES you should be able to use that router and your macbook.

 

[Spliff]

Ya it works fine without security, however I just don't want some leechers joining my network and taking up my bandwidth.

 

[MacsAttack]

Ya it works fine without security, however I just don't want some leechers joining my network and taking up my bandwidth.

You could set up MAC address filtering and only allow your computers to use your wireless network.

MAC addresses can be spoofed of course, but it stops casual "drive-by" free-loading.

 

[mkrishnan]

This issue has to do with hash-coding. The wireless key is 40 bits long, but only 26 bits are actual password, and the rest is an "initialization string." See this Apple note:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106424

About 75% down the page.

I think what you need to try is to go into the router software and find the HEX version of the password -- it should be able to provide you with that. And then you put the HEX version in, selecting 128 bit HEX first.

P.S. Is there any reason you cannot run WPA on this network instead of WEP? WEP should not any more be confused with network security than Al Gore with "inventing the internet." Also all these issues with confusion about how the password should be communicated are issues of the WEP standard and do not arise at all on WPA.

P.P.S. Make sure you update the Linksys firmware too. If you're having an issue like this, sounds like you're using very old firmware.

 

[rogersmj]

Well, for starters, you should NOT BE USING WEP. You have modern equipment, don't use an old encryption technology that can literally be hacked in seconds these days.

Your router, assuming it's the popular WRT54G model (which is also what I have), should have an option for wireless security that's called "WPA personal". WPA is far more secure than WEP, and all it requires is for you to pick a password. It's more secure and easier to setup.

 

[Spliff]

Thanks for all the posts guys! See? That is why I come here because I'm a networking retard!

Question regarding WPA. Is the WPA Personal password the same as the WPA Shared Key??

 

[mkrishnan]

Question regarding WPA. Is the WPA Personal password the same as the WPA Shared Key??

Basically, yes. There are two different encryption schemes for "personal" WPA (TKIP and AES -- see here), and an "enterprise" version. The difference is that the latter, rather than using a pre-shared (password) key, uses a server called a Radius server that hands out keys. But you don't need to worry too much about all of that. Enable WPA and set up a password and the network and the Mac should automatically negotiate the type of encryption scheme being used.

 

[Spliff]

Basically, yes. There are two different encryption schemes for "personal" WPA (TKIP and AES -- see here), and an "enterprise" version. The difference is that the latter, rather than using a pre-shared (password) key, uses a server called a Radius server that hands out keys. But you don't need to worry too much about all of that. Enable WPA and set up a password and the network and the Mac should automatically negotiate the type of encryption scheme being used.

Ahh I know what a Radius server is as I have a security token for my work which uses this.

I just enabled WPA, I can't believe how easy that was. I guess the jargon and the TKIP and AES kinda screwed me up into thinking that it was more difficult than it actually was. Thanks for the info!