Help! I'm confused. I'm trying to verify if my wireless network is secure. I thought it would be a simple task!
When I check the security type in the Network and Sharing Section of the Control Panel the Security Type shows "No Authentication (Open) and the Encryption Type as WEP. If I understand correctly, this means my wireless network is NOT secure. However, I have Norton 360 Premier Edition installed and the Network Security Map shows my wireless network IS secure.
I attemped to change the Security Type to WPA2-Personal and the Encryption Type to TKIP but I received an error message saying the settings saved for the network did not match the requirements of the network. I don't know what the network requirements are or how to find this information!
I'm just not sure what to do or how to determine if my wireless network is secure when I'm finding conflicting information.
The Norton Network Security Map will indicate that a wireless network is secure as long as some type of encryption is in use, whether it be WEP, WPA, or WPA-2. So from Norton's standpoint using any one of those qualifies your network as secure.
In real life there are major differences in these types of encryption and you are safest using WPA-2. WEP has been cracked and offers very little protection to keep others from seeing or using your wireless connection - it will keep your non-techie neighbors off the network (assuming they are not too nosy) but otherwise is not very secure at all. WPA-2 is very secure, with WPA just slightly less so. WEP is better than nothing - but not by much.
The type of encryption you can use is limited by what your network devices support - or more correctly, by what the least modern device will support. It's a lowest common denominator thing. If you have an old PC whose wireless card only supports WEP, then you will either have to use WEP for all devices on the network or leave the old PC off of the network. If everything you have is only a few years old, then you will probably be able to use WPA-2. Whichever type of encryption you use, it needs to be specified in the router and each device, and you need to enter the same passkey in each of them.
If you are stuck using WEP, using Open authentication is actually more secure than Shared Key authentication, so it sounds like you have that properly configured. Just remember that WEP is inherently not very secure so avoid transmitting nuclear secrets, whenever possible. If you can use WPA or WPA-2, AES is more secure than TKIP - but again your devices all have to support AES in order to use it.
Thank you so much for your reply! It makes sense now! I do have a really old PC on my network so that's probably what is causing the problem. I'll try your suggestions and see what happens!