Orinoco gold card issue

I am having trouble with my Orinoco gold card and my linksys router. I spoke to linksys and they said that I had to change the rtf setting. I think they said rtf setting, on my Orinoco card. I have to change it to 2240.

Does anyone know...
1. What rtf setting is and what it does?
2. How to change it?

Thanks,

 

hrm,

I can't really answer your questions there. none the less I had a similar situation.

D-Link Wireless Router and Print-Server
Orinocco Gold Card
WinXP

what i ultimately did was flash the hardware on the orinocco card, and turned off the encryption which was causing difficulties (kind of pointless to use the gold card then, I know I know) but it worked. Sides I'm in a fairly low-cracker density neighborhood and use client-side encrypted apps none the less.

try these to see if they work, but do post when you find out about the rtf setting, I would be interested to know, especially since I'd still like to use the encryption options. (although I remember reading an article on the myths of security in wireless products - more detail can be posted if you'd like)

o Draith

 

whats the url

thanks, i will do turn off the encryption, (reluctantly) I will post when I learn more. If you could, post the URL of the information of the myths of wireless security.

Check out my lastest site.
www.warvoice.com

Thanks.

 

i'm looking around online for that article I read, but i can't find a copy of it. Problem is, it was in a past issue of 2600.
however, here's a useful site for you related to 802.11b security. It's that namesake's FAQ

http://www.iss.net/wireless/WLAN_FAQ.php

hope you find it helpful. As for the "myth" i was talking about. it mainly deals with WEP, the encryption for wireless being easily crackable. Hopefully sometime this weekend I can try typing out the article for you. If it appears to big to post as a thread (moderators can tell me this please) than I will try to post it on a website of my own - which would hopefully handle any extra serverload (i use small time, friends' servers)

o Draith

 

Article on WLAN security

Here's an excerpt from that article I mentioned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in 2600, issue 19:2 (Summer 2002), written by Dragorn with edits by Draith.]

[The following are my summarizations of portions of the article]

WEP = Wired Equivalence Protection
AP = Access Point
SSID = Service Set IDentifier

WEP refers to the encryption used for wireless transmissions - a link-layer type. It uses RC4 in 40, 64, 128 and in more recent cards, 256 bit encryption.

The Access Point (AP) acts as a sort of central server for your wireless LAN (local area network), which interacts with each of the individual client computers on this WLAN. (This is generally the most common WLAN structure - the other being a client to client network).

The Service Set Identifier (SSID) is basically the name you give your network, whether it is a creative name like "Prometheus", or more business-oriented in its nomenclementure "wlan.bos-11.4". It identifies the individual wireless network that the AP serves and communicates through.

There are four common packet types in the 802.11b standard. These consist of:

[word for word quotation from article.]

1. Beacon packets. Typically, access points continually transmit beacon packets containing their SSID, maximum transfer rate, and MAC address of the access point. Most APs send between six and ten beacon packets a second continually.
2. Probe packets. When a client tries to join a network it sends a probe request packet containing the SSID of the network if wishes to join. If an access point allows the client to associate with the network, it responds with a probe response, also containing the SSID.
3. Data packets. Typically, these are just TCP/IP encapsulated in the 802.11 frames.
4. Ad-hoc packets. These are no different than data packets except they are sent card to card instead of through an access point.

[article excerpt begins here.]
...
The Myth (and truth) of WEP, SSID, Cloaking, and Non-Beaconing
WEP is alternatively touted as the only protection you'll ever need, and so weak it's not worth enabling. The truth lies, as always, somewhere in the middle - all, or nearly all, modern chipsets include workarounds for the flaws in WEP key generation, however all it takes is a single older system on your network (access point or client) to expose the key.

WEP only encrypts data packets - link layer packets such as joining, beaconing, probes, etc. are left unencrypted. Actually cracking the WEP key depends on the key length, the number of flawed systems generating traffic, and the traffic levels on the network - if there are no systems generating data traffic, you will never have the opportunity to capture weak keys. The most important factor is time - typically only one or two in thousands of packets contains a weak key, and current key attacks require thousands of weak keys to extract the full key.

...

WEP has the additional flaw of being a shared private-key encryption method. Once your key is cracked (or otherwise compromised by the system being cracked, insecure means of giving the key to personnel or other network users, an employee leaving, or even an employee losing a wireless-enabled handheld), all systems must be updated with a new WEP key, which has the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities as the previous one.

Coupled with additional security (as discussed later), WEP can be a useful deterrent, however it is by no means sufficient as the only line of defense - while it may foil the casual sniffer, a determined attacker with the right tools stands a good chance of breaching your network.

In a further attempt to make consumer hardware more secure, or to at least appear more secure, many manufacturers include SSID "cloaking," where the SSID is blanked from the beacon packets. Unless a client knows the correct SSID, it cannot join the network. Unfortunately, this "protection" is completely transparent - once a client joins the network, the SSID is sent by the client and the AP in cleartext (even if WEP is enabled - remember, WEP only encrypts data packets, not link packets). [Certain sniffer applications] automatically detects this exchange and fills in the network SSID. If you have users on your network, your SSID will be exposed.

Several physical attacks (of varying legality) are possible to force a cloaked network to disclose the SSID - when a card gets a weak signal or loses the signal, it attempts to rejoin the network, disclosing the SSID. Any 2.4ghz RF interference strong enough to disrupt the network and cause systems to rejoin will, in addition to being against all FCC regulations, happily cause a disclosure of the SSID.

The second common trick favored by manufacturers to try to protect AP's is to disable beaconing entirely. While not completely in accordance with the 802.11b specifications, this doesn't cause major problems for normal operation. However this, like SSID cloaking, does not provide any significant protection. Any data traveling over the network can still be seen, and the SSID is disclosed in the same fashion as the cloaked SSID by users joining the network.

Securing Wireless Networks
After all of the above doom and gloom, how does on secure a wireless network? There are two primary methods that can be used, and are most effective when used in conjunction:
1) Application or network-layer encryption. This can be as simple as SSH (or as SSH-tunneled PPP virtual network) or as complex as IPSEC.
2) Proper authentication. MAC addresses can be easily spoofed. Some APs offer enhanced login authentication (Cisco LEAP). For APs that don't (most consumer equipment), solutions like NoCAt (www.nocat.net) can provide secure authentication methods to protect the rest of your network from the wireless segment.
3) Properly tuned equipment. Don't assume stronger is better! Always use the minimum power possible for your network and select your antennas appropriately. Not only is it good for security, this will help reduce the congestion in the 2.4ghz band.