AirSnort is a wireless LAN (WLAN) tool which recovers encryption keys. AirSnort operates by passively monitoring transmissions, computing the encryption key when enough packets have been gathered. Via [airsnort.shmoo.com]… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: August 2001
High Speed, Freed
“This is why I love New York,” says Anthony Townsend, standing in the middle of Washington Square Park, holding his laptop computer like a butler’s tray and scanning the adult playground the place becomes on hot summer evenings. Where else, he asks, can you walk around with a computer, surf the Web, and go utterly… Continue Reading
‘Off-The-Shelf’ Hack Breaks Wireless Encryption
A group of researchers from Rice University and AT&T Labs have used off-the-shelf methods to carry out an attack on a known wireless encryption flaw — to prove that it “could work in the real world.” Via [cnn.com]… Continue Reading
Cipher Attack Delivers Heavy Blow To WLAN Security
A new report dashes any remaining illusions that 802.11-based (Wi-Fi) wireless local-area networks are in any way secure. The paper, written by three of the world’s foremost cryptographers, describes a devastating attack on the RC4 cipher, on which the WLAN wired-equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption scheme is based. Via [eetimes.com]… Continue Reading
Convenience Vs. Annoyance
From etiquette experts to senior executives at Microsoft, a growing number of people say wireless Internet access is becoming an annoyance–a technology that could potentially become more annoying than cell phones or pagers. They point to the alarming number of attendants at technology conferences and even internal office meetings who ignore speakers to focus on… Continue Reading