Wireless router question

[Pan]

Originally Posted by mark

Wondering about WPA vs WEP. Understand that WPA is more secure than WEP but the kids DS is WEP and he's been bugging me about it.

Since my router's either WPA or WEP, any big deal in the real world to just run WEP?

I'll admit its a google search but i don't feel like typying everything

WPA:

Wifi Protected Access. It bridges the gap between WEP and the upcoming 802.11i standard, and is implementable via firmware upgrades in older hardware. WPA uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (or TKIP), which is designed to alow WEP to be upgraded through corrective measures that address the existing security problems.

Advantages over WEP:

* IV length has increased to 48 bits from 24 bits, which allows WPA to achieve over 500 trillion possible key combinations.
* IVs are now better protected through the use of the TSC, or TKIP sequence counter, helping to prevent the re-use of IV keys.
* Master keys are never directly used.
* Better key management
* Impressive message integrity checking