[vox-tech] [OT] Two questions regardless Wireless 802.11b

[Richard Crawford]

ME said:

>> Richard Crawford said:
>>> I'm trying to fix things up with my wireless setup at home.  I was
>>> using WEP for awhile, but decided to stop because (a) our computers
>>> were having a lot of frame errors and dropping the connection
>>> frequently; and (b) I've heard that WEP is just not all that secure
>>> anyway.  So now I'm setting it up to do MAC address filtering, and
>>> allowing only the MAC addresses that I specify.  Seems to be working
>>> just fine so far.
>
> It is better to use both as it adds a level of difficulty for casual
> users.

I'd actually like to use all three, if possible:  MAC filtering, WEP, and
SSID hiding.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned, with WEP enabled, the signal
kept bouncing, and my laptop kept giving me "WEP Frame Errors".  I don't
know enough about wireless networking to figure out what this means.


> Also, cloning of a MAC is possible and it is easy to find the MAC
> addresses of the client with sniffing.

Oh.   Dang it.  I thought I'd hit on something pretty spiffy.  Ah, well.


> If the "Sony Clie TJ37" is not running Linux (I doo not know wha this
> device is) but has an IP address, then from a machine on the same
> wireless network try to ping its IP address, and then:
> # cat /proc/net/arp | grep IPADDRESS_OF_DEVICE
> while the ping is running
> You should find the MAC.
> (This assumes you are on the same layer-2 network without a bridge, or
> more importantlly a router.

The device runs PalmOS.  But that seems like a good approach.


> Another method is to use Ethereal and start sniffing. You should see 3
> MAC in the header of the layer2 data on 802.11b:
> The MAC SRC, MAC DST, and MAC Associated Access Point

Ah, okay.  Cool.


>>> Second, I would also like to disable SSID broadcast on my wireless
>>> network, but when I do, our laptop computers can't log in to the
>>> network when they're turned on.  Is there a way around this?
>
> Sure, but it requires that you "hard code" (static config) the SSID in
> the settings for the devices since they won't be able to learn it on
> their own through a bcast.

Need to figure out how to do that in Windoze.  Hmmmm...

-- 
Sláinte,
Richard S. Crawford (AIM: Buffalo2K)
http://www.mossroot.com   http://www.stonegoose.com/catseyeview
"You cannot trust your judgement if your imagination is out of focus." 
--Mark Twain