Airport express with wep

Question

i have been able to connect my AX to my network if i disable WEP and broadcast my SID (i have never broadcast my SID and always use WEP)...so, my next endeavor is to get AX to connect to my network with WEP enabled and my SID not broadcast...
here's what i've done...did a hard reset on the AX...plug it in...have my network setup to use WEP..via Airport Setup Asst i connect to the AX...it finds the AX and says it wants to connect to the network "Airport Express 3452" (or something to that effect)...if i say NO, i'm stuck...if i say YES, my laptop (where i'm running the setup) disconnects from my network to the "Airport Express 3452" network, thus leaving WEP off and broadcasting my SID...if i then try to go and change my laptop back to my network, the AX is unable to update the settings...
so how in the world do i connect to my network with the ultimate goal of using WEP and not broadcasting my SID?
running win xp pro with a linksys wrt54g router...

Answer 1

It use to be useful, but closing your Airport or wireless network (sometimes referred to as not broadcasting your SSID) is really no longer a real option when it comes to wireless security.
Unfortunately "Closed" networks, MAC access control lists, and reduction in transmission power are all more "feel good" security rather than real security. All these various approaches are dated and mistakenly lead to overconfidence.
WPA is your only real option if you value wireless security.
My recommendation is not to worry about broadcasting your SSID but use WPA. This will be more secure than a closed WEP encrypted network. Closing your network makes it very difficult for neighbouring networks to see which channels are free thus causing potential interference problems.
Another thing to consider is that a closed network is still broadcasting and therefore is detectable (regardless of whether it is broadcasting a SSID). If someone was determined to hack into your network, then not broadcasting your SSID, WEP and/or MAC address access control is not going to stop them.
WPA is virtually uncrackable (only really vunerable to a dictionary attack if a real word is used as a password) and therefore will stop the casual user and the determined hacker.
One of the problems with WEP is that the actual standard relies on a 10 character HEX key for 40bit WEP and a 26 character HEX key for 128bit WEP.
In order to make things easier for people, vendors use certain algorithms to convert simple alphanumeric passwords (or passphrases) into HEX keys, thus enabling people to use simple memorable WEP password rather than lengthy HEX keys.
The problem is that different vendors use different algorithms to generate the HEX key and therefore a ASCII password on an AEBS will be hashed differently on a Netgear client and vice versa.
One thing is a 13 character 128 bit WEP password will be hashed by all vendors in the same way (if you use 40bit WEP then a 5 character password is required).
Though sometimes not even that works and the HEX key must be used regardless.
AirPort: Joining an encrypted wireless network
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106424
Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108058
WPA
"WPA Personal" on the Mac corresponds to plain WPA, with a pre-shared key (PSK) and TKIP encryption, on non-Apple wireless routers. The same alphanumeric password should work on both.