hide SSID

[Virtuoso]

Is it safe to disable WEP and uncheck "Broadcast SSID" for sake of not sacrificing wireless performance? Is this a fairly good idea or bad idea security wise?

Specs:
Sony Vaio Centrino / Core 2 Duo / 2GB Memory
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Intel® PRO/100 VE Network Connection
Driver: 11.1.0.86
Vista Ultimate
Belkin Pre-N Router: firmware version 2.01.02
Modem: Motorola SBV5120
Firefox 2.0.0.3 w/ Tweak Network extension

[morbidpete]

the ssid and wep willnot affect performance,
if you have no encription or password its super easy to get on your network even if te ssid isnt broadcast, if someone sends a packet to your router, it will respond with an error and that will have the ssid in the packet and thus enable them access to your network ( at least i think thats how it works)

[YeOldeStonecat]

Attempting to hide your SSID really isn't a measure for security anymore. Assuming you change your SSID from default (meaning, don't leave it at Linksys or Netgear, etc), it will only hide your wireless LAN from the most amateur of neighbors, as just about all the "sniffing/wardriving" utilities out there now will still pick it up. Not to mention...some wireless chipsets don't work well trying to connect to a WLAN with a hidden SSID.

WEP does impact your performance, it has a decent amount of overhead. However, security of your WLAN is important (for most people), so you should use something. WEP is old, outdated, and with utilities out there now..it's been cracked in under 1 minute. Yeah it takes a little bit of effort, but it can be done. WPA is much newer, much easier to setup, has less of an impact on performance, and is more robust security wise.

Advice...leave SSID on....and use WPA or better yet...WPA2.

[Qui-Gon John]

What steps are necessary to setup WPA?

[morbidpete]

Attempting to hide your SSID really isn't a measure for security anymore. Assuming you change your SSID from default (meaning, don't leave it at Linksys or Netgear, etc), it will only hide your wireless LAN from the most amateur of neighbors, as just about all the "sniffing/wardriving" utilities out there now will still pick it up. Not to mention...some wireless chipsets don't work well trying to connect to a WLAN with a hidden SSID.

WEP does impact your performance, it has a decent amount of overhead. However, security of your WLAN is important (for most people), so you should use something. WEP is old, outdated, and with utilities out there now..it's been cracked in under 1 minute. Yeah it takes a little bit of effort, but it can be done. WPA is much newer, much easier to setup, has less of an impact on performance, and is more robust security wise.

Advice...leave SSID on....and use WPA or better yet...WPA2.
my bad, i ment wpa2 didnt take up much :D, thats what im using morbidpete ssid with wpa2 tsik+ases or something like that, no issues so far

[Qui-Gon John]

Stonecat, in what ways is WPA "much easier to setup"?

Also, the site's FAQ's say both WEP and WPA consume resources. So is WPA just much "lighter" than WEP?

[YeOldeStonecat]

WEP uses the long strings of hexadecimal characters
WPA you can use works, combinations of any letters and numbers, so it's easy for you to remember as you go around setting up a fleet of machines on it.

Give me a stack of 50 laptops...and a choice to set it up on WEP or WPA, guess which one will take me 1/2 of the day and which one will take me under 1/2 an hour.

Yes they both cut into your performance a bit..but WEP cuts in much more.

There is no advantage to WEP.

[Qui-Gon John]

Thanks, that helps clarify it. I have used WEP for a long time and so far, have known very little about WPA. Any recommendations on setting WPA or shoud you follow similar guidelines to strong passwords?

I guess it's a moot point for me, unless I want to buy a new router, my router, a Netgear MR814v2, only supports WEP.