I found a better explanation for the 40-bit/64-bit and 104-bit/128-bit key
business in an Avaya manual. Now I'm finally clear.

An Encryption Key is composed of the secret key (entered by the user) and a
24-bit Initialization Vector
(IV). Some products report an Encryption Key Size with the IV and some
report a Key Size without the IV. Therefore, 64-bit encryption is also
referred to as "40-bit" encryption (without the IV), 128-bit encryption is
also referred to as "104-bit" encryption (without the IV), and 152-bit
encryption is also referred to as "128-bit" encryption (without the IV).

Great. So 128-bit can mean two different things. That's smart.


Mike Ellsworth
StratVantage Consulting, LLC
Helping Successful Companies Make Winning Technology Decisions
8273 Westwood Hills Curve
St. Louis Park, MN  55426
952-525-1584
mellsworth at stratvantage.com
www.StratVantage.com
www.TheWiFiGuys.com

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Ben Franklin, ~1784
-----Original Message-----
From: tcwug-list-admin at tcwug.org [mailto:tcwug-list-admin at tcwug.org]On
Behalf Of Andrew Zimmer
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 9:54 AM
To: tcwug-list at tcwug.org
Subject: RE: [TCWUG] Linksys/Mac and WEP

> Now my brother has gotten a Linksys AP and wants to use WEP with his
Mac.
> The Linksys offers 64 or 128 bit WEP, but I believe the Mac wants 40
or
> 104
> bit "passwords". Should he establish a 15 character key and enter
those
> characters in as the Mac password?

I Goolged and found this on the proxim web site about 40 and 64 bit WEP.
It's brief and not very techie.
http://www.proxim.com/support/all/skyline/technotes/tn2001-08-03.html

Basically it says they are the same.  You should get 10 hex numbers with
64 bit WEP and 26 hex numbers with 128 bit WEP.

I'd stick to the hex numbers and not the pass-phrase that is used to
create it.  It's a drag to type all of the numbers and such but it
sounds like some folks have had problems with some WEP key generators.
You should be all right to use the pass-phrase if you stick with the
same wireless manufacturer I would imagine.  I've had good luck with
Linksys at least.


_______________________________________________
Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Minnesota
http://www.tcwug.org
tcwug-list at tcwug.org
https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list


_______________________________________________
Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
http://www.tcwug.org
tcwug-list at tcwug.org
https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list