Airport Security: WEP vs WPA Personal

icibaquicibaqu
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi. I want to protect my wireless network so that only my imac and my girlfriends ibook can have access (and i suppose also in the very rare instance someone elses laptop comes over).



The setup assistant has four options, and I was hoping someone could quickly break down the advantages or disadvantages of each of them.



40 WEP

vs

128 WEP

vs

WPA Personal

vs

WPA2 Personal



Thanks so much.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    40 vs 128 = encryption strength

    128 is stronger encryption, but would that really matter in a home set-up ? ... maybe.

    Older systems may not be able to access 128bit encryption ... but any hackers would probably have up-to-date systems



    WPA v WPA2 is BASICally the same as above... Again, older systems may not have support for WPA2.



    It only takes very basic encryption to keep your nieghbors or most war-drivers out. And if a person has the software (and time) needed to crack 40 bit encryption, well... that same software can crack a 128bit key, it'll just take a LOT longer
  • Reply 2 of 4
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    In the order you listed them, they go from least secure to most secure. I.e., if all your computers support it, go for WPA2. Failing that, try WPA1. If that doesn't work, give WEP-128 a try, which most likely should work everywhere. And if even that isn't supported, then you're kinda screwed, because WEP-40 isn't really particularly secure at all, but it's still better than nothing.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    kishankishan Posts: 732member
    The WEP protocol has been thoroughly cracked. Although your neighbors would probably not bother with trying to hack into your network, WEP is still easily cracked (at least theoretically). The WPA protocol is much more secure, but as another poster stated, not necessarily supported by older hardware. Most recent Apple products should support WPA. I personally use WPA personal for my home network.



    edit: I didn't know much about security issues until I started listening to Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson's "Security Now" podcast. You can download individual shows from the URL I posted or subscribe via iTunes. There are several episodes in which they break down WEP vs. WPA and home network security in general. Give it a look if you are interested.
  • Reply 4 of 4
    project2501project2501 Posts: 433member
    As others have pointed out, WPA is more secure than WEP so you should try that first, but there are also some other simple things you can do to improve your security, firstly turn off your SSID broadcast, It's much harder for people to crack your Wlan if they don't know that it exists, and also set your transmitting area small enough, so that it doesn't reach all those potential hackers. And last thing don't use default passwords, they are so easy to guess.
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