The wireless network has been compromised?

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Level 1

140 points

The wireless network has been compromised?

Hi all
I have two separate questions.
1/
I have switch to WPA following suspicion on someone hacking my wireless. Although I never seen addresses others than my owns connected to the router. But I read that it is apparently possible to be invisible.

Since using WPA, I get this window regularly.

" The wireless network appears to have been compromised and will be disabled for about a minute."
One button available: OK

Does any of you know what compromise means? Are my suspicions correct?

+My router support these 3 modes: WEP, WEP+802.1x, WAP+
+On the WAP setting page I have choice between :+

+802.1x where ip server, port and secret are required (I think, one needs to pay for that service let me know otherwise:),+
and,
+PSK which is the setting I am using at the moment.+
+I connect my PB using WPA Personal which I guess is the most basic protection.+

2/
I was previously using a WEP 128 with an airport express for printer and music but Airport Express doesn't seems to work with WPA personal.
Should I go back to WEP, get a new router?
What are my best options with these two pieces of equipment.

Also, If my network has been hacked, how do I find out, and what should I do?

Many thanks

PB 15 1.5ghz 80GB 1.5GB combo, Mac OS X (10.4.11), drives upgrade: opt. UJ-85J - HD 250GB

Posted on Mar 16, 2008 9:42 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,202 points

Mar 16, 2008 11:54 AM in response to lune

This issue has come up recently and there currently doesn't seem to be a known reason as to why. Searching the Apple Support site does not reveal any additional information on this message and Googling does provide more insight but no real solutions. Most have found that this particular message will appear when using WPA (or WPA Personal) with a TKIP cipher. Either using WPA w/AES, WPA2, or WEP appears to eliminate the message. I suggest that you either try using the other encryption types, starting with WPA2, then WPA w/AES, and finally WEP 128-bit if your equipment supports it. What is the make/model of this router?

The AirPort Express Base Station, with the latest firmware (6.3), will support WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Again, I would use either WPA or WPA2 over WEP.

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Answer 2

lune Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 16, 2008 12:45 PM in response to Tesserax

Many thanks Tesserax for the information.

The router in question is the Actiontec GT701WG.
I am currently running with 3.0.1.0.6.0-GT701-WG but it seems that there is an update for it (5), so I may try that in first instance.
As for the AES it says V6.3 in Airport Admin Utility. Although WPA2 personal or WPA2 entreprise seem to be the only available options. Are these compatible with WPA personal as I am not sure if PSK is the same as TKIP.

Ty

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Answer 3

lune Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 16, 2008 1:54 PM in response to lune

Ok I had a little deeper look.
First there isn't any new firmware update for the router (the model with antena), and this hasn't changed for at least 2y.

I have finally managed to connect the AEP with my WPA Personal PSK settings on the router.
I used the WPA2 personal with password. I guess PSK=password
I tried the hexadecimal settings, but my router didn't recognize it.

So I guess I have to live with a WPA setting or 802.1x which I haven't tried yet.
The last time I looked, the 802.1x was a paying solution. Can someone confirm this.

Many thanks

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Answer 4

Tesserax

Level 10

158,202 points

Mar 17, 2008 8:47 AM in response to lune

The router in question is the Actiontec GT701WG.

According to the documentation I have, this router is only capable of WPA, not WPA2. WPA2 is required for AES, as WPA only supports TKIP.

As for the AES it says V6.3 in Airport Admin Utility. Although WPA2 personal or WPA2 entreprise seem to be the only available options.

This is the latest firmware for the AirPort Express Base Station (AX). With this version, the AX is capable of supporting WEP, WPA (TKIP), or WPA2 (TKIP/AES). WPA Personal (Apple's terminology) = WPA or WPA-PSK. PSK = Pre-Shared Key.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

158,202 points

Mar 17, 2008 9:01 AM in response to lune

First there isn't any new firmware update for the router (the model with antena), and this hasn't changed for at least 2y.

Then most likely this router will still only support WPA, not WPA2.

I used the WPA2 personal with password. I guess PSK=password

Since the router only supports WPA, you should select "WPA Personal" as the encryption type. PSK = Pre-Shared Key. When setting up WPA on the router, you don't have to restrict yourself to hexadecimal. Unlike WEP, WPA uses either a passphrase, that is comprised of 8 to 63 characters or a fixed-length of 64 Hex characters. The passphrase can include special characters and spaces. For example: Mary had a little lamb ... would be perfectly acceptable, although not recommended as you should use a "strong" passphrase that includes not only alphanumeric characters, but also symbols and spaces.

So I guess I have to live with a WPA setting or 802.1x which I haven't tried yet.

I would recommend the WPA setting. The 802.1x setting is typically used in corporate environments where a special server (RADIUS) is employed to verify your credentials (username/password) before you can access a wireless network. This is really not the path you would want to go.

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Answer 6

lune Author

Level 1

140 points

Mar 18, 2008 9:42 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you for your time Tessarax and your explanations.

I am a bit amused to see that there might have been a little war about standard names for the different security set-ups. Thank you for clarifying that for me, and officially informing me about my initial network popup window issue.

So I guess I will use the WPA personal from now on, even tho, after some reading, I understand that it isn't very difficult to crak.
I just wish Apple was making things a bit clearer in the Airport express setup as I got quite confused with the WPA2 appellation.

Cheers

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