up vote 0 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts on this, as I recently saw a Verizon DSL network set up where the WEP key was the last 8 characters of the router's MAC address. (It's bad enough that hey were using WEP in the first place...)

What are common default security loopholes on wireless routers as they are shipped? How can they be fixed?

link|improve this question
this is better suited to a discussion forum. – quack quixote Mar 17 '10 at 12:12
~quack - That's why it's a community wiki. btw, know of any good forums? – Moshe Mar 17 '10 at 13:24
If you'd change it to: what are typical wireless network security loopholes or something on preventing them, it would be allowed and I would reopen it – Ivo Flipse♦ Mar 18 '10 at 10:46
Still seems too broad for a Q/A site like Superuser. Even forums will tell you to search Google first. As for forum recommendations: dslreports dslreports.com/forum/security and ArsTechnica arstechnica.com/civis/viewforum.php?f=10. – hyperslug Jun 22 '10 at 2:53
feedback

closed as not a real question by Nifle, quack quixote, Ivo Flipse♦ Mar 18 '10 at 10:45

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

There was a story a while back about routers having a WEP key that could be derived from the network name and the MAC address. Might of been Thompson, I can't remember.

Relying on MAC address filtering is another bad one - since MAC addresses are transmitted in plaintext, you can just sniff a few packets and pick an address from there. It gets harder when there are multiple networks, and of course you have to wait until that machine is offline (duplicate MAC addresses are not good).

link|improve this answer
feedback

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.