I know that WPA is more secure than WEP, but not as fast. I have WPA. Would it be safe if I switched it to WEP when I wanted to play online and switched it back when I was done? I have a mac so there is a drop down menu that allows me to do this easily. Thanks in advance.
I wasn't aware of any speed difference...any noticeable one, anyway, unless you're using WPA on a really old computer or old router that wasn't designed for WPA in the first place.
I know that WPA is more secure than WEP, but not as fast. I have WPA. Would it be safe if I switched it to WEP when I wanted to play online and switched it back when I was done? I have a mac so there is a drop down menu that allows me to do this easily. Thanks in advance.TD913
Yeah, there is a speed difference, WPA takes more time of the connection because of the encryption method, maybe the difference is not huge enough to be noticeable, but it does exist. Well, i guess its safe to play online using WEP and trade back later, or even better you can play only using WEP. As WEP and WPA stuff can only be hacked if the hacker is inside the same wi-fi hotspot area that you are using. People often mistake what the WEP and WPA security is for. Is basically to protect your wi-fi hotspot (either a wireless router or something else) from people to hi-jack, use it and share weird files (if sharing is enabled) without you know. With that said, if you live on USA, no one from Japan or any other place of the world can hi-jack wireless connection. (however they can still send viruses and worms like any normal cable connection). In other worlds, if you`re using it at home, WPA is only really necessary if you think that your neighbhours are capable of stealing/leeching your connection without you knowing or that some weirdos usually hang out around your house with notebooks. Why WPA and WEP is over discussed and very often looked? Simple, by business that use wi-fi to communicate their computers or public wi-fi hotspots. A hacker that can hack WEP (its easier to hack than WPA) can enter in their servers and do some real damage. The only problem is that they discuss this with so much worry that they forget to explain this little detail to people, they just say that WPA is safer without explaining why and if you even should trouble using it.
Thanks a lot for clearing this up for me. I live in a nice neighborhood so I am not worried about my neighbors hacking onto my network. I just didn't know all the details that you mentioned. I think I will just switch back and forth then.
[QUOTE="TD913"]I know that WPA is more secure than WEP, but not as fast. I have WPA. Would it be safe if I switched it to WEP when I wanted to play online and switched it back when I was done? I have a mac so there is a drop down menu that allows me to do this easily. Thanks in advance.meiaman
Yeah, there is a speed difference, WPA takes more time of the connection because of the encryption method, maybe the difference is not huge enough to be noticeable, but it does exist. Well, i guess its safe to play online using WEP and trade back later, or even better you can play only using WEP. As WEP and WPA stuff can only be hacked if the hacker is inside the same wi-fi hotspot area that you are using. People often mistake what the WEP and WPA security is for. Is basically to protect your wi-fi hotspot (either a wireless router or something else) from people to hi-jack, use it and share weird files (if sharing is enabled) without you know. With that said, if you live on USA, no one from Japan or any other place of the world can hi-jack wireless connection. (however they can still send viruses and worms like any normal cable connection). In other worlds, if you`re using it at home, WPA is only really necessary if you think that your neighbhours are capable of stealing/leeching your connection without you knowing or that some weirdos usually hang out around your house with notebooks. Why WPA and WEP is over discussed and very often looked? Simple, by business that use wi-fi to communicate their computers or public wi-fi hotspots. A hacker that can hack WEP (its easier to hack than WPA) can enter in their servers and do some real damage. The only problem is that they discuss this with so much worry that they forget to explain this little detail to people, they just say that WPA is safer without explaining why and if you even should trouble using it. WARDRIVING, this means some dude driving around in a truck using bruteforce programs along with packet sniffers to easily crack first generation WPA and all WEP either 64 or 128 bit within a minute or two. Id say leave it on WPA 2 when you can and if you need to use your DS only switch to WEP WPA1 when you need it.
[QUOTE="meiaman"][QUOTE="TD913"]I know that WPA is more secure than WEP, but not as fast. I have WPA. Would it be safe if I switched it to WEP when I wanted to play online and switched it back when I was done? I have a mac so there is a drop down menu that allows me to do this easily. Thanks in advance.ColdfireTrilogy
Yeah, there is a speed difference, WPA takes more time of the connection because of the encryption method, maybe the difference is not huge enough to be noticeable, but it does exist. Well, i guess its safe to play online using WEP and trade back later, or even better you can play only using WEP. As WEP and WPA stuff can only be hacked if the hacker is inside the same wi-fi hotspot area that you are using. People often mistake what the WEP and WPA security is for. Is basically to protect your wi-fi hotspot (either a wireless router or something else) from people to hi-jack, use it and share weird files (if sharing is enabled) without you know. With that said, if you live on USA, no one from Japan or any other place of the world can hi-jack wireless connection. (however they can still send viruses and worms like any normal cable connection). In other worlds, if you`re using it at home, WPA is only really necessary if you think that your neighbhours are capable of stealing/leeching your connection without you knowing or that some weirdos usually hang out around your house with notebooks. Why WPA and WEP is over discussed and very often looked? Simple, by business that use wi-fi to communicate their computers or public wi-fi hotspots. A hacker that can hack WEP (its easier to hack than WPA) can enter in their servers and do some real damage. The only problem is that they discuss this with so much worry that they forget to explain this little detail to people, they just say that WPA is safer without explaining why and if you even should trouble using it. WARDRIVING, this means some dude driving around in a truck using bruteforce programs along with packet sniffers to easily crack first generation WPA and all WEP either 64 or 128 bit within a minute or two. Id say leave it on WPA 2 when you can and if you need to use your DS only switch to WEP WPA1 when you need it.
What kinda neighborhood do you live in? A litte paranoid aren't we?
There's really no reason not to run WPA2 and turn off the broadcast of your network's ID. Any speed losses are ridiculously minimal at worst and not worth the hassle of constantly switching the type of security back and forth. Having high security will never hurt anything.
No one will hack into your router if it is WEP. People these days are too lazy to go on your neighbor's unlocked router and steal your information.
awssk8er716
I troll for unsecured networks with my iPod all the time when I walk around, and it's amazing how many people don't enable security. It's even more amusing how many people buy Linksys routers and do nothing but check the 'enable' box for wireless, since I can automatically connect to the default linksys network in more locations than I can count.
There's really no reason not to run WPA2 and turn off the broadcast of your network's ID. Any speed losses are ridiculously minimal at worst and not worth the hassle of constantly switching the type of security back and forth. Having high security will never hurt anything.DJ_Lae
Main reason: DS does not work with WPA. Other than that you`re right.
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