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How To Crack WEP and WPA Wireless Networks...

Introduction With the popularity of wireless networks and mobile computing, an overall understanding of common security issues has become not only relevant, but very necessary for both home/SOHO users and IT professionals alike. This article is aimed at illustrating current security flaws in  WEP /WPA/WPA2. Successfully cracking a wireless network assumes some basic familiarity with networking principles and terminology, as well as working with command-line tools. A basic familiarity with Linux can be helpful as well. Disclaimer: Attempting to access a network other than your own, or one you have permission to use is illegal insome U.S. jurisdictions. Speed Guide, Inc. are not to be held liable for any damages resulting from the use or misuse of the information in this article. To successfully crack  WEP /WPA, you first need to be able to set your wireless network card in "monitor" mode to passively capture packets without being associated with a network. This  NIC  

Does WEP/WPA slow down wireless connections ?

Yes,  WEP  and  WPA   encryption  add some overhead in terms of calculations needed to encrypt/decrypt the traffic. The exact impact greatly depends on the processing power of the network device, it can vary from 5% to 30% of the maximum  throughput . With newer routers that have faster processors, enabling  WEP /WPA should not have a major impacts on performance, it should be barely noticeable at full load. Some older models, however, can slow down as much as 30% or more due to the added processing overhead. Even though there is some perfomance impact, it is not noticeable in newer devices, and the benefits (security) far outweigh any drawbacks. Note that  WPA2  ( AES ), in addition to being more secure is also much more efficient than  WEP /WPA( TKIP ) and should be used, if possible. Ref:  http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=156 Comment : How much do WEP or WPA/WPA2 encryption hurt wireless performance? i understand that it varies from router to router, newer ones