Ryberg, Nicholas wrote: >Until just last week, my experience with wireless has been coffee shops >that provide "free" connectivity. Generally speaking, I've been nervous >about using them unless I'm either just browsing the net and don't >really care what anyone sees me doing, or I'm locked into the corporate >VPN that theoretically makes my airborne traffic secure anyways. > > Ahh, yes, I would recommend VPN in this case. Also, T-mobile hotspots support 802.1x/WPA but I'm not sure exactly which EAP protocols. (I know at least EAP-SIM, but I'm guessing EAP-PEAP too). >I just upgraded my Qwest/Actiontec DSL modem to the latest that includes >a built in wireless A/P. Security is configurable in the standard >Actiontec browser based management console, but as far as I can tell, >I've the choices of WEP, 802.1x(?), and WPA. (Forgive me if I goof - >I'm working off of memory here). > > Home network routers generally use WPA-PSK, which is able to be cracked in an 'offline' attack after enough packet capture. However, this offline attack is ineffective if the key length is long enough. I've heard recommendatations of 30 characters. Remember, this is a 'full text' key, so you can use nearly any characters (much like passwords) to make it very complicated. You may want to just use a random password generator. Smaller 'typical' passwords can be cracked in minutes with WPA-PSK. Thanks, -- Scott Dier <dieman at ringworld.org>