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Wireless Key Generator Introduction So you've bought yourself a nice 802.11b card and either a base-station or a router, and you've got it all hooked up and working, and you've even gone as far as enabling WEP so that those dodgy geezers with their Laptops and their Pocket PCs can't sneak onto your network. You're all fired up and secure, right? Wrong. WEP isn't bulletproof - see this link for details - and the only real sure-fire method of keeping people out if you really want to continue using wireless is to change your WEP keys regularly. Enter WKG. WKG makes it easier for you, the human, to come up with psuedo-random strings to use as WEP Keys. The program is designed to be easy to use and as random as we can make it while still being useful, and has the following features:
· Generates 64, 128 or 256-bit keys. · Dictionary-based keys for readability. · Cool logo and splash screen. Generating a Key To generate keys, simply select the type you require from the drop-down boxes, choosing 'Random' or 'Dictionary' for ASCII keys, and click the Generate button. Click 'Copy to Clipboard' to. do just that. Click on 'Settings' at the top of the window to tailor the way WKG behaves to your personal preference. Most people will probably want to tick all three boxes and them forget about this section altogether. Using the Keys If you're updating the keys via a wireless unit, it's probably a good idea to have the programs for both your card and the base-station/router open at the same time and to paste the key(s) in before applying them. You should apply the keys to the base-station/router first, because once you change the card config you won't be able to access the other unit unless it already has the keys. Your key-change process should therefore be:
· Open the card config screen. · Open WKG and generate some keys. · Paste the keys into both programs. · Apply the new key(s) to the base-station/router. · Apply the new key(s) to the card. The dictionary idea came about because we realised it was quicker and easier to read out English-language words (feel free to make your own-language version of the dictionary) to another person in an office or down a phone line. We did trim it down to include just 3, 4, 5 and 6-letter words, but unfortunately we had to leave the rare and bizarre ones in there to keep the quantity up, so some spelling-out may still be required. How Random is it? A fair question. The dictionary approach is most definately the least secure because, if someone knows you're using WKG, they can confine an attack to words in the dictionary and thus brute-force a key in a shorter time. Knowing the contents of dict.txt and the target length of the key(s) means this kind of attack could potentially yield your key in a short length of time. Make sure you are aware of this limitation before using WKG. Who Created it? Programming: Joseph Cox - website Implementation: Richard Monks - website Version History
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