Gizmodo: wep

WPA Wi-Fi Security Gets Cracked; Your Network is No Longer Secure

Adam Frucci — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:15:00 EST

When it came to setting up Wi-Fi networks, if you knew what you were doing you would enable WPA security. This would keep people with a small amount of knowledge from gaining access to your network, which is very easy with the much weaker WEP security. No more! WPA security has now been cracked, rendering all but the most tightly-locked networks open for hacking.

Researchers by the name of Erik Tews and Martin Beck were the ones to do the cracking, finding a way to break the temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) in under 15 minutes. They haven't, however, figured out how to gain access to the data that travels between the PC and the router, so that's a plus.

So what should you do to secure your network? Switch to WPA2, which is still uncracked for the time being. And if you want to be one of those marginally-skilled Wi-Fi hackers? Grab the Aircrack-ng Linux program, which has already had this new code added to it. You dick. [PC World via Tech Digest]

Samsung WEP500 Quarter-Sized Bluetooth Headset Available Now

Jason Chen — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:30:44 EDT

Samsung's just announced the availability of their tiny quarter-sized WEP500 Bluetooth headset for the US. It's definitely small—weighs less than 9 grams and is the size of about a quarter—but suffers in low battery life because of it. 3.5 hours talk time and 80 hours standby time isn't fantastic, but it does have 2 microphones and noise reduction, which still isn't standard in Bluetooth headsets for some reason. All this can be yours for $119, and an extra $119 when you lose the first one because it's so miniscule. [Samsung]

Microsoft's Xbox 360 Incompatible with Apple's Airport Extreme 802.11n

Jason Chen — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:54:36 EST

Two can play the incompatibility game. It looks like Microsoft's getting back at Apple's "don't get Vista if you want to use iTunes" by telling Xbox 360 users not to get the new Airport Extreme because it's incompatible with their game console.

Apparently the 360's having trouble either with WPA/WPA2 security or routers with N-support, as a few Linksys and D-Link users are also reporting compatibility problems. Microsoft says they may update this in the Spring Dashboard update, but that won't be out for a couple months. For now either stay away from Apple's Extreme if you've got an Xbox 360 or hook it up via Ethernet. – Jason Chen

Apple Support [Apple via TUAW]