Is my network under threat

[hoss6800]

Hi,

I have used WPA2 (PSK) option to secure my wireless network. I have seen few attempt for connecting to my wireless access point in the logs, but since my password is very long I don't think they had any luck.

Today I heard from someone that by using "AMAC" people can connect to your wireless router. I don't think he was really sure about what he was saying, but he was implying that it is possible to break into wireless networks easily with use of this software.

I was wondering if anyone has used this software and knows anything about it. If he is right, how can I stop this from happening.

Thanks
hoss

 

[beady]

No offense to your mate, but I don't think he knows what he's talking about. WPA is secure as long as the password is long enough. I wouldn't worry about it. I wonder if he was saying 'a MAC', refering to MAC cloning, which is how you get around MAC address filtering. Nothing comes up in google about AMAC, and if WPA had been hacked, it'd be all over the web.

 

[WeeFatBob]

beady,

WPA has been cracked but its not as easy as the wep systems. the wep systems get cracked by capturing the data sent through the air and once enough data packets have been collected a program is run on the data packets to decypher the key code used.

WPA cracking is done by using an old method of brute force cracking where things like dictionaries and other catalogs to words are used to try and basically guess the key. this does of course mean there are millions of possibilities as the key may contain upto 63 characters but with time and patience it can be done.

Bob

 

[Hejira]

Take a look @ this for a secure password and explanation

h**ps://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

 

[karym6]

beady,

WPA has been cracked but its not as easy as the wep systems. the wep systems get cracked by capturing the data sent through the air and once enough data packets have been collected a program is run on the data packets to decypher the key code used.

WPA cracking is done by using an old method of brute force cracking where things like dictionaries and other catalogs to words are used to try and basically guess the key. this does of course mean there are millions of possibilities as the key may contain upto 63 characters but with time and patience it can be done.

Bob

just to point out that cracking a wpa2 secured wireless network would take a significant amount of time.

One tip one creating pre shared keys for wpa is to use a mixture of lower and upper case letters, use numbers and include other symbols such as % and *. Making the password long will also increase the security presented.

Other methods would be to use mac address filtering and to not broadcast the network name (SSID).

 

[hoss6800]

No offense to your mate, but I don't think he knows what he's talking about. WPA is secure as long as the password is long enough. I wouldn't worry about it. I wonder if he was saying 'a MAC', refering to MAC cloning, which is how you get around MAC address filtering. Nothing comes up in google about AMAC, and if WPA had been hacked, it'd be all over the web.

Hello,

And thanks to everyone for replies,
I have to agree with you mate, he wasn't realy sure about what he was saying as i mentioned before. I think he had heard some stuff and just mixing it with other things.
This software only changes the mac address.

thanks for all the comments

 

[conorc]

When talking about a "significant amount of time" in terms of BRUTE FORCE cracking of a reasonable length WPA password, one should think in terms of THOUSANDS OF YEARS!

Make your WPA password at lease 20 characters, add upper case & lower case mixes, add some punctuation characters, don't be obvious, and your network is secure!

 

[jfish]

as I have implemented quite a few wireless networks for clients in London, the method I have used which thus far has been very secure is to use a RADIUS server together with a digital certificate on the client to authenticate the user has being valid, therefore even if someone manages to clone the MAC with out the digital certificate, the client will not be allowed to authenticate to the RADIUS server - and as a added measure, I used TKIP for the key - therefore the key changes every so many packets.

 

[keithed2]

Simple steps improve security

If your a home user you can take some or all of these simple steps depending on whether your wireless 'station' supports them..as you probably don't have a RADIUS Server.

1) Turn off SSID broadcast - as you know the same of the station just enter it to connect
2) Use WEP2 if possible
3) Get the latest updates for you wireless network card & router
4) Use MAC address filtering - a MAC address is unique to each network card or adapter
5) Get a random password as long as possible the GRC link provided earlier in this post is an excellent example.

WEP2 is very secure, if someone wants your data it would be easier to break in and steal it!
Great advice everyone,
Cheers Keith.

as I have implemented quite a few wireless networks for clients in London, the method I have used which thus far has been very secure is to use a RADIUS server together with a digital certificate on the client to authenticate the user has being valid, therefore even if someone manages to clone the MAC with out the digital certificate, the client will not be allowed to authenticate to the RADIUS server - and as a added measure, I used TKIP for the key - therefore the key changes every so many packets.