Alan Spicer Marine Telecom http://www.wifiyacht.net © 2007
Notice: The use of WEP is pretty much deprecated these days. WPA is a much better 802.11 wireless protection system. See my article on WPA KEYS as well.
For my
Motor Yacht clients life is usually complicated enough just managing
the things required for their boat. You don't need things more
complicated with computer and computer networking issues. This article
is about the minimum security that should be enabled in Wireless Access
Points and the Wireless settings on computers used onboard. I still run
across yachts running wireless access points "wide open" with no
security turned on. That means they are not using WEP or WPA (article
on WPA coming later...). This is not a good idea. Anyone with a laptop,
or another yacht with a WiFi (external antenna) booster system, could
easily log right in to your onboard network. This means if you have
Internet Access they can use it too. If you are sharing files they can
read them too. The bottom line you need to turn on some type of
Wireless Security. WPA is actually better than WEP. WEP has been proven
to be crackable... but it takes a lot of computer time and not too many
people attempt it. You could get along fairly safely by using WEP and
periodically changine your WEP key. Most people looking for a free ride
on the Internet will usually see your system as WEP protected and will
move on looking for a system that is not protected at all.
Turning on WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and setting a wireless key code is often done for you by myself (or your favorite network technician) and you use it without question from then on. But it should be *changed* periodically! You might not do that because you don't understand how the WEP Key is created. The current key you have may be something like: 41 6c 61 6e 53 70 69 63 65 72 54 65 6c. These characters are normally all run together, not seperated like I show them here. Your access points and computers will probably tell you that this is a 128-bit hexadecimal key.
But what does that mean? And how can you make one of your own?
There are two ways to make a WEP Key:
http://centricle.com/tools/ascii-hex/ or
http://ei4web.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/~kinouchi/cgi-bin/ASCIItoHEX.html or
http://www.mikezilla.com/exp0012.html
Enter your 13 character pass phrase into one of these converter web pages and it will give you the Hex string needed for a 128-bit WEP Key.
3.) Note: Many Wireless Access Points and Routers will create your key from such a pass phrase that you enter. It must be 13 characters. You could put parts of your name your boat name or something you would remember. But keep in mind someone else might be able to guess this phrase as well. For that reason you might favor creating a Hex Key pattern (under Hexadecimal section above) that isn't based off of common words or names. Here is an example where I used "AlanSpicerTel". The resulting key would be entered without those ":" colons, which I have again just put there to make it easier to view the key.
Note AlanSpicerTel converts to: 41:6c:61:6e:53:70:69:63:65:72:54:65:6c
[end of article.]
My Telephone Number is: 954-683-3426, or 954-977-5245.
Thank You.
Turning on WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and setting a wireless key code is often done for you by myself (or your favorite network technician) and you use it without question from then on. But it should be *changed* periodically! You might not do that because you don't understand how the WEP Key is created. The current key you have may be something like: 41 6c 61 6e 53 70 69 63 65 72 54 65 6c. These characters are normally all run together, not seperated like I show them here. Your access points and computers will probably tell you that this is a 128-bit hexadecimal key.
But what does that mean? And how can you make one of your own?
There are two ways to make a WEP Key:
Hexadecimal
Hexadecimal,
as you may already know, is just another numbering system. Instead of
our Base-10, hexadecimal uses Base-16 which means it has 16 possible
digits (we'll call them characters because certain digits in hex. are
actually letters) they are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, A, B, C, D,
E, F.
Each of those hex digits is 4 bits. You will notice they are often grouped two characters together seperated by spaces or ":" colons. 2 characters together is 8 bits. At this point it should be noted that common alphabet characters are stored in the computer as 8-bits (see ASCII below) as well. So you'll see that creating (or generating as it's called in the Wireless Access Points) WEP keys in Hex from common word phrases (ASCII) is a simple table lookup conversion.
You can make your own Hex WEP Key by just using valid Hex digits. You will notice that this turns out to be 26 Hex digits. This would be a valid 128-bit WEP Key. Some of you might "Do the Math" like I did and ask why (26 x 4 = 104) and not 128? Well the Access Points add something called an "Initialization Vector" which takes care of the other 24 bits.
Each of those hex digits is 4 bits. You will notice they are often grouped two characters together seperated by spaces or ":" colons. 2 characters together is 8 bits. At this point it should be noted that common alphabet characters are stored in the computer as 8-bits (see ASCII below) as well. So you'll see that creating (or generating as it's called in the Wireless Access Points) WEP keys in Hex from common word phrases (ASCII) is a simple table lookup conversion.
You can make your own Hex WEP Key by just using valid Hex digits. You will notice that this turns out to be 26 Hex digits. This would be a valid 128-bit WEP Key. Some of you might "Do the Math" like I did and ask why (26 x 4 = 104) and not 128? Well the Access Points add something called an "Initialization Vector" which takes care of the other 24 bits.
ASCII
ASCII
is actually the easier way to make WEP Keys. Someone may question why I
didn't have this one first before Hexadecimal? Well the ASCII that you
would enter actually is used to generate a Hexadecimal WEP Key sequence
anyway. The way this is done might appear magical but it's really very
simple. We can actually do it by hand using a common ASCII to Hex
chart. (or one of many converters on the Internet). Doing it this way
it then becomes a simple task of:
1.) Decide on a 13 character (13 letters, upper and lower case)
2.) Using one of the following web pages (or find your own via Google.com search)
1.) Decide on a 13 character (13 letters, upper and lower case)
2.) Using one of the following web pages (or find your own via Google.com search)
http://centricle.com/tools/ascii-hex/ or
http://ei4web.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/~kinouchi/cgi-bin/ASCIItoHEX.html or
http://www.mikezilla.com/exp0012.html
Enter your 13 character pass phrase into one of these converter web pages and it will give you the Hex string needed for a 128-bit WEP Key.
3.) Note: Many Wireless Access Points and Routers will create your key from such a pass phrase that you enter. It must be 13 characters. You could put parts of your name your boat name or something you would remember. But keep in mind someone else might be able to guess this phrase as well. For that reason you might favor creating a Hex Key pattern (under Hexadecimal section above) that isn't based off of common words or names. Here is an example where I used "AlanSpicerTel". The resulting key would be entered without those ":" colons, which I have again just put there to make it easier to view the key.
Note AlanSpicerTel converts to: 41:6c:61:6e:53:70:69:63:65:72:54:65:6c
[end of article.]
My Telephone Number is: 954-683-3426, or 954-977-5245.
Thank You.
[end of article]
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