How secure is wireless?

[DerbyJon]

Assuming WPA is enabled, does this merely authenticate the connection, or does it also encrypt the data? If encryption is used, how secure is this? For instance, when using online banking, would the 5m wireless leg of the connection be the weak link in the chain, crypotgraphically?

[5lab]

yeah - wireless can be hacked by listening for certian packet types. fine for home use but if you had some really sensitive data flowing about, best to leave well alone

[pak000]

it would be 1 of the weak links, however most banks use https anyway, so thats encrypted as well.

WPA can be cracked relatively easily especially if you have a weak key. that being said, WEP is much much worse

If you suffer from real paranoia, you could always set up a vpn over the wireless.

[Tak]

WPA with a long random key (~63 random characters) is perfectly secure. It is only vunerable to brute force attacks so make sure you use a good key. Grab one from here. Chop and change bits of it if you like. Also keep your router/access point's firmware up to date.

If you're visiting secure sites like online banking then it would be using SSL anyway, which would be secure even over an unencrypted wireless connection, just check the SSL certificate hasn't been spoofed. Though of course an unencrypted link would open you up to all sorts of exploits so don't bother.

Therefore, avoid WEP and no-encryption, but WPA + long random key is completely fine.

[dangel]

The best form of wireless security is to be surrounded by the computer-challenged. Not a problem where I live

[Rack]

The best form of wireless security is to be surrounded by the computer-challenged. Not a problem where I live

Lol, me too.

Then you also have your router security (tho probably also easy to hack? Copying MAC addresses etc).

I also don't broadcast SSID, stops random noobs trying to 'hax0r' into your system, or at least just randomly trying to connect/sniff. Of course that's not foolproof at all, but helps a little.

As said, anything should be encrypted by the application.

Now I've seen the Wifi antenna system on that other thread here, I can imagine anyone with a wifi-usb key can just keep looking in a 5-10km radius from the top floor of their house until they find an unsecured network instead (lots of people just hook up their wireless and are happy it works - no security).

[dangel]

I'm only using basic security but everything's logged and i've had not a sniff in 2 years or so. I'm sure i'm a maaahhsiive target for the wireless taliban but wireless was enough of a pain to get working between my two routers as is.