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(I probably will cross-post this message to several different groups)

Hello,

A customer of mine connects her computer wirelessly to a Linksys WCG200-CC
Modem/Router. Recently, she had some sort of problem, and called tech
support at Comcast asking for help. The Comcast tech had her re-set the
modem/router (why, I don't know; her problem had to do with her email
spellcheck not working, which I solved in 2 seconds by re-enabling her
popups).

So, the modem/router lost its WEP key. At this point, my customer called
me, because she could no longer connect to the Internet. Once I figured out
what the heck was going on, I opened the modem/router's configuration
utility, created a new paraphrase, which generated a new WEP key. I have
the original key, but THERE IS NO APPARENT WAY TO CREATE THE KEY MANUALLY,
only by creating a new paraphrase. The WEP key field is not editable. So
now, she's able to connect to the Internet, but...

She's going to be going out of town, and while she is out of town, her
roommate, who is currently out of town, will be returning. She doesn't want
to create an unpleasant situation, and when her roommate returns, they're
not going to be able to connect to the Internet. Incidentally, the roommate
is the "sub-letter", as well as the owner of the modem/router, this may not
bode well.

So, enough of the soap opera; my operative question is:

Is there a conversion utility out there that will allow me to convert the
26-character WEP key into a paraphrase, so that I may go back to the
modem/router, enter the paraphrase, and make everything roses?

I Googled around with this for a little while, but nothing that I found
seemed to work.

Any responses will be much appreciated.

Thank you,

smackedass

smackedass wrote:

> So, enough of the soap opera; my operative question is:
>
> Is there a conversion utility out there that will allow me to convert the
> 26-character WEP key into a paraphrase, so that I may go back to the
> modem/router, enter the paraphrase, and make everything roses?

At lot, and everyone is making it differently.

> Any responses will be much appreciated.

1. Why don't you simply crack the WEP key?
2. Why are you still using WEP if it's so easy to crack?

> 1. Why don't you simply crack the WEP key?
> 2. Why are you still using WEP if it's so easy to crack?

Um...I'm a consultant, not a hacker, granted I ought to have a little bit of
a better understanding of what the BEST thing to do here is, and of wireless
security as a whole, but...

Your responses, #s1 and 2, while very much appreciated, contradict each
other, in spirit. In essence, what I was originally was asking was HOW DO I
CRACK THE WEP KEY (see above, I'm not a hacker, not my area of expertise);
that's why I'm asking this, here, today.

And, it's my customer's out of town roommate who wishes to use WEP; yes, my
advice would be to use WPA, but the owner of the modem/router is not my
customer, and it's not my call to dictate to some person that I don't even
know how (and isn't the person paying me) to arrange their wireless
security.

Know what I mean?

smackedass

smackedass wrote:

> Know what I mean?

Then tell'em to simply disable WEP. Doesn't make any qualified
difference from a security point of view and it solves the problem.


Anyway, you don't need any expertise to crack WEP. Just download
WinAirsnort or Aircrack and let 'em do their job.

Thanks to all who have responded.

By now, I'm surmising that there's no pretty way out of this; as a last
shot, I'm going to give the Linksys folks a call, to see if they know
something.

And, I'll try to be charming and engaging when I get to tell the roomate
that it's really no big deal, anyway, a WEP key should be changed every once
in a while anyway, and that WPA is better anyway.

Thanks, again,

smackedass

smackedass wrote:
> a WEP key should be changed every once in a while anyway

About every minute, and I consider that impractical.