Complete Home Wireless Networking. Windows XP Edition

Wireless encryption can help make your network safer by scrambling data sent by your wireless network adapter so other wireless network users won't accidentally or purposefully connect to your network.

WEP (wired equivalency privacy) is used on wireless networks to secure data. You choose a string of text, called a key , that is combined with the data sent over your network to make it indecipherable to anyone who does not have the key.

Enabling encryption is quite simple. You need to set up encryption by changing a setting at both the network adapter and the access point, if you use one. Then you enter the same passphrase, which generates a key (sometimes called a pass key ) at each computer and at the access point, using the software utility that comes with your wireless networking hardware (Figure 12.4).

WEP has come under considerable scrutiny because a smart hacker can likely beat the encryption method if he is determined to do so. This fact makes wireless encryption inherently more insecure than wired networks. However, for keeping your neighbor or the office next door off your network, WEP should be fine. In the next section we look at other methods you can use to make your network more secure.