John

Member since: Jan 3rd, 2007

John's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
Engadget	5 Comments
Download Squad	4 Comments

Recent Comments:

Engadget's recession antidote: win an iRobot Roomba Pet 562! (Engadget)

Mar 30th 2009 1:10PM I'll take one please.

Viral "WiFi flu" router virus almost as fun as the real thing (Engadget)

Jan 4th 2008 9:44AM Not so fast. . .
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/24/elcomsoft-turns-your-pc-into-a-password-cracking-supercomputer/

The point I am trying to make is that WPA uses a pre-shared key. The entire key has to be transmitted for the authentication sequence. Even if it is encrypted, it is prone to cracking. Implementing a VPN solution is the best way in a Small Office or Home Office to ensure a secure connection without having to setup a RADIUS server.

If people do not want to setup a VPN, your suggestion of a non-dictionary sequence is a good one. However, with the price of computing power via cpu or gpu dropping so fast, cracking even the most complex password takes only a matter of days. Changing the key to your WPA every few days will eliminate that threat, but who wants to take time do that every few days?

Viral "WiFi flu" router virus almost as fun as the real thing (Engadget)

Jan 3rd 2008 10:13PM barrywoods,
I agree with your assesment of password strength as I use KeePass to generate strong and unique passwords for each piece of network equipment and every website that require them. However, the crack I am referring to is not based on a dictionary attack.
"...demonstrates how this wireless protection method can be cracked with only four packets of data. ... A second flaw exists in the method with which WPA initializes its encryption scheme. Consequently, it's actually easier to crack WPA than it is to crack WEP." see http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=369221

Viral "WiFi flu" router virus almost as fun as the real thing (Engadget)

Jan 3rd 2008 5:16PM Neither WEP or WPA alone are secure. WPA is only secure if used in concert with a RADIUS server. Even a beginning hacker can easily crack any WEP or WPA key easily by downloading one of the many Live WEP and WPA cracking CDs freely available and can easily crack any alphanumeric of the maximum length in a matter of minutes. MAC address filtering is bogus because every packet sent from your computer to the WAP contains your MAC in plain text. If you are truly concerned about privacy, setup a VPN between each of your wireless computers and a server on your wired network. Check out these sites:
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_linux_firewall_ipcop
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_linux_firewall_ipcop_p2
add to that the following:
http://www.zerina.de/zerina/
or
http://www.ban-solms.de/t/IPCop-copspot.html

Cheers.

Ford delivers first of 20 plug-in hybrids in California (Engadget)

Dec 5th 2007 5:57PM ". . .but no major manufacturer has stepped up and actually delivered. . ." is incorrect. GM had the EV1 in 1990. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
1,117 units were produced from 1996-1999 but the program was canceled in 2003 and GM took all of the cars back.

VectorMagic - convert photos into vector drawings (Download Squad)

Dec 3rd 2007 5:20PM The correct link is: http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/

Verizon FIOS customers getting searchjacked (Download Squad)

Nov 9th 2007 10:56AM To correct this, try using OpenDNS. It is a free service that can be found at http://www.opendns.com
It also includes some great optional features like phishing protection, domain blocking, adult site blocking, and domain whitelisting.

Monitor your network with Nagios, version 3.0 released in beta (Download Squad)

Jul 31st 2007 10:29PM Peter,
Novell has an outstanding article on how to do it step by step at: http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/16723.html
You can't go wrong.

Software For Starving Students 2007 edition (Download Squad)

Jan 3rd 2007 11:00AM You should also check out the TTCS CD at http://www.ttcsweb.org/osswin-cd/
"The TTCS OSSWIN CD is a collection of over 100 Free/Open Source software for home and business users using the Microsoft Windows 98SE/Me/2000 and XP operating systems."