Why WEP Should Be Considered Bad Form

If you have a wireless network at home and you've either left it open (unsecured) or you have secured it using the WEP option, this article is for you. If you have wireless and you have no idea what the preceding sentence means, you need to read this and my follow-up entries on how to secure your wireless network.

If you think WEP is good enough for your wireless security, let me educate you on how incredibly simple it is to bypass. One would need the correct hardware (an Atheros based wireless card - $50), the correct software (available over the Internet - free), and be near enough to your wireless network to pick up a signal (also free). Once all three of these are in place, it takes less then an hour (in some cases, far less!) to come up with the password that you used to supposedly secure your network. At this point, they are on your network. Mostly, they will just be interested in accessing the Internet for free. Mostly. If this doesn't scare you, it should. If you have other computers on your home network that have your financial information on them, this should scare you very much. Kudos to you for choosing to secure your network instead of using the default "open" network. Unfortunately, using WEP isn't much better then just leaving your network open.

Perhaps you are one that doesn't care if someone else uses your network to access the Internet? While that is altruistic and very generous of you, it does leave you open to risks. For starters, most ISPs specifically forbid the sharing of your home Internet service in their terms of service. You can argue how the "Man" is trying to squeeze more money out of us all by doing this and you'd likely be right. But that doesn't stop them from disconnecting you if they feel that you've infringed on the agreement that you submitted to when purchasing their service. Furthermore, these types of companies believe that is a violation of federal or state laws and may seek action against you.

If the risk of the Man disconnecting you isn't enough, think about what kinds of bad things can be done online and will be traced back to your home address. Accessing child porn, probing government networks, and communicating with known terrorists are all things that will raise flags with your federal government and your ISP. From what I've read, it is a legal grey area on whether or not you could be held liable for this. (How believable is your defense of "It wasn't me. Someone must have used my wireless network.") Is it worth the hassle?

Now, I'm really not the doom and gloom type. The chances of this happening to you are small, but not impossible. If you live in a sparsely populated area, the chances of one of your neighbors wanting to break into your network to conduct malicious activity are slim. If it isn't one of your neighbors, but a stranger instead, then ideally you'd notice a car sitting out on your street with a person inside using a laptop. If you live in a larger city or a densely populated area, there are many more people available and interested in using your network. If you are in an apartment building, you would never even see that this is happening.


http://news.com.com/2100-1039-5112000.html
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/technology/personaltech/internet_piracy/?cnn=yes
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,122153-page,1/article.html