Wireless Network Key?

[18greens]

Hi, Maybe someone can shed some light?

I have a wireless Voyager 2000 modem. I have connected to it using the BT product (1010 and 1020 wireless adapters) very successfully and the ethernet cable works great.

However, I have a Compaq nx7010 laptop running XP and it has its own built in wireless modem. I can get this to see the voyager modem but when I try to connect it asks for a Network key. What is it? I have tried entering the Mac address, the BSSID and even the serial number printed on the bottom of the modem. It is WEp encrypted and i've tried that but it wants a 9 or 13 digit key.

Any ideas where I might find the key?

Regards 18

[Keef]

Not seen that...

If your router allows, you may be able to allocate a "fixed" IP address, based on the MAC number. My router allows that, which gives that warm feeling of security - and takes all the pain out of setting up the connection when you turn on the laptop.

Anything not on the list of allocated IP addresses by MAC number gets thrown off. Stops the kid next door "borrowing" my Internet connection!

I use 64-bit WEP, but that's a 12-digit hex number (sometimes it needs dashes between each pair, sometimes not).

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

18greens,

There is no such thing as a Wireless Built in Modem, that would be an Internal Modem, but it is not wireless.

You would need a Wireless NIC in order to connect to your BT Wireless Router.

You might need to check with BT, there is a good chance they limit the number of users that can log on at one time.

With a standard Wireless Router, you can log into the Router and create a Key. Then you copy the Key and put it in the device you want to have log in.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. That is just general info, since I have not seen a Voyager 2000, so I cannot be more specific.

[BEagle]

Go to the BT Voyager 2000 program and open 'BT Voyager 2000 User Guide'. Click on 'Wireless Security' and read the section labelled 'Passcode and keys', then read how "To view the WEP Keys generated by the Passcode on your Voyager 2000 base station so devices outside the BT Voyager product range can join your network".

Alternatively just turn off the WEP encryption and use MAC association - less secure but if you limit access to just the host PC and your laptop, it'll stop anyone else accessing your Voyager 2000.

[Evo]

On a point of order, MAC-address ACLs shouldn't really be confused with security - the source and destination MAC address is in plain text in every network packet, so the ACL is trivial to bypass.

However, as always in home security, 99% of the time the important thing is being more hassle than the next guy, so as long as you're aware of the limitations you're fine :)

[Keef]

And anyone sitting outside my house in his car, trying to do his e-mail using my wireless access point and internet connection, is welcome. If his MAC number isn't in the router's list, he won't connect to the system so he won't see my packets so he won't know what MAC address to cheat with...

I've got 64-bit encryption turned on anyway, cos it was easy to do.

[Evo]

If his MAC number isn't in the router's list, he won't connect to the system so he won't see my packets so he won't know what MAC address to cheat with...


Doesn't work like that Keef. MAC addresses are in plaintext in all broadcast packets, even with WEP enabled. An attacker just needs to listen and capture one packet to determine a valid MAC address, and almost all wireless card firmware allows MAC-address spoofing, so once they have a valid MAC address it's trivial to access your network.

It's potentially a big deal, because while you may be firewalled against the outside world, most home LANs trust the computers on the network, so if someone connects via the WAP any files etc. you share are wide open. Of course, as I keep saying, making things difficult is in all likelyhood all you need to do and a MAC address ACL does that, but it's important to understand exactly what your security does and doesn't do - and most people think that MAC ACLs are much more secure than they really are. :)

With WEP, even 64-bit, then it's a whole different story, because that is effectively uncrackable for all but the most determined. But if you're using WEP there's no point in an ACL anyway.

[18greens]

Out of interest what is a MAC address?

[Evo]

A MAC address is a (supposedly) globally unique hardware address of an Ethernet network card. It's a hex number, for example 00-0D-56-68-D2-D8, programmed by the manufacturer when the card is made, and it will be different on every card. It's used deep in the depths of networking for directing network packets to their destination.

If you type ipconfig /all on a Windows PC will tell you what yours is (Windows calls it the Physical Address).

edit: the MAC-address Access Control List (ACL) that i'm talking about is intended to say that only certain specified cards may access the network. If MAC addresses really were unique then this would be foolproof, but, unfortunately, many cards allow the MAC address to be misreported, so once you know an allowed MAC address you can change yours to match

[ORAC]

The MAC address is used at the data layer level below TCP/IP and used by your PC when requesting an IP address.

Think of the MAC address like your national insurance number or name, unique to you for life. Now think of an IP address like your postal address; broken down into town, street and house identifiers to get mail to you - and changing as you move around with mail being able to be forwarded to you.

[Keef]

Evo - undoubtedly true, but I doubt the kid next door is capable of reading a packet to see the MAC address number in the first place, or of spoofing it on his machine.

If he is, the 64 bit encryption might slow him down for a bit longer, although with patience he might work out the keyword that set it.

Not gonna worry!