> This is only true with the old RC4 encrytpion that can be broken with "air
> snort" and others. The Lucent/Orinoco firmware upgrade for their cards
fixes
> this security problem.


RC4 is, apparently, fundamently flawed in its implementation at ANY key
length. Air snort and similar programs attack by analysing substantial
amounts of data to deduce the 40 bit WEP key. This ecomes impracticable with
the new 128 bit WEP key and even longer proprietary implementations. HOWEVER
the RC4 is, reportedly, flawed in its fundamental implementation and can be
attacked without recourse to raw key deduction from data.

I have seen SSh tunneling suggested as a secure alternative.

Below is the executive summary of the findings -



        RM

_________________________________

Security of the WEP algorithm

This is some information about our analysis of the Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) algorithm, which is part of the 802.11 standard. This work was
performed jointly by Nikita Borisov, Ian Goldberg, and David Wagner. If you
have any questions, please contact us at wep@isaac.cs.berkeley.edu.

Executive Summary

We have discovered a number of flaws in the WEP algorithm, which seriously
undermine the security claims of the system. In particular, we found the
following types of attacks:

Passive attacks to decrypt traffic based on statistical analysis.
Active attack to inject new traffic from unauthorized mobile stations, based
on known plaintext.
Active attacks to decrypt traffic, based on tricking the access point.
Dictionary-building attack that, after analysis of about a day's worth of
traffic, allows real-time automated decryption of all traffic.

Our analysis suggests that all of these attacks are practical to mount using
only inexpensive off-the-shelf equipment. We recommend that anyone using an
802.11 wireless network not rely on WEP for security, and employ other
security measures to protect their wireless network.

Note that our attacks apply to both 40-bit and the so-called 128-bit
versions of WEP equally well. They also apply to networks that use 802.11b
standard (802.11b is an extension to 802.11 to support higher data rates; it
leaves the WEP algorithm unchanged).

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