After reading this whitepaper published by InteropNet Labs (http://www.opus1.com/www/whitepapers/whatswrongwithwep.pdf) I think I discovered a few weakness in WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy.
WEP works by pairing your user generated password with an Initialization Vector (IV) which, as I understand, is a 24 bit value that’s stored in Plain Text. So the “code” meant to obfuscate your password is in plain english. Great. Then, it’s only protected by 16 million variables (I read somewhere that the exact figure 16,777,215). Even increasing the bit of the value doesn’t do much to protect your security, according to AirCrackNG (a useful tool for cracking passwords) a 64 bit IV can be cracked in under 5 minutes. (http://www.aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=aircrack-ng)
Obviously the only absolute way to ensure Wifi security is to not have it, but being wired in is not always a viable option, so many experts (http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/79187/what-is-the-best-home-wireless-network-encryption-algorithm-to-use) recommend WPA2 as a stronger form of protection, but of course even that isn’t uncrackable. Suggestions to bolster your home network include UPDATING YOUR FIRMWARE. In any instance of digital security, having an up to date Operating System, Browser, and Add-Ons like Java or Flash, and your Router is no different. Updating the firmware (or replacing it entirely alternate firmware like DD-WRT with http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index) can go a long way for your peace of mind. Obviously having a complex password (l1k3d2Ωpp1n61/\/7013375p34|<) is more difficult to calculate, and probably won’t be in any password dictionaries (pre-compiled lists of popular/known passwords) that hackers like to pass around.
Other, less blatant methods to deter intrusion is to limit your broadcast range, there’s no need to have 50 feet of signal blasting from your one bedroom door, unless your car has wifi. Some routers allow you to limit the range and make anyone attempting to enter your network come a little closer. Also, disabling WPS (wireless protected setup) is a good idea, because it basically changes your complex, alternating caps alpha numeric password into an 8 digit pin, that’s only 100,000,000 different possibilities, and can be cracked with ease.
Stuff I don’t understand: Other than rate limiting, which i suppose is just controlling how often someone can guess your wifi password, preventing a brute force attack, I read about turning off your DMZ? I reckon that’s a De-markation Zone? Like the little blip of land between north and south Korea? I think it has something to do with remoting in to your router from afar, but I’m not sure how or why someone would want to do that.