freaked about the 802.11 security flaw? no? maybe you should be:
“A new report dashes any remaining illusions that 802.11-based (Wi-Fi) wireless local-area networks are in any way secure. The paper, written by three of the world’s foremost cryptographers, describes a devastating attack on the RC4 cipher, on which the WLAN wired-equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption scheme is based.”
“The passive network attack takes advantage of several weaknesses in the key-scheduling algorithm of RC4 and allows almost anyone with a WLAN-enabled laptop and some readily available “promiscuous” network software to retrieve a network’s key – thereby gaining full user access – in less than 15 minutes.”
although serious, before everyone throws out the baby with the bathwater, maybe we should all review the steps outlined on the Securing your Wireless Network:
” If your wireless LAN is located in a single family home, then you are probably more at risk from intruders coming in via your Internet connection than from folks gaining access to your LAN over the air. But if your LAN has some means of wireless connectivity, you’ve added another way to access your LAN that doesn’t require getting past your router’s firewall and doesn’t even require physical access!”
“Actually, there’s a lot you can do to secure your wireless LAN. Most of these tips apply to 802.11b based LANs, since they’re the most prevalent. But some tips are just good network security practice and can help no matter how you build your LAN.”