Thanks, Ser Olmy.
1st, pardon my ignorance. I assumed that a router & wireless network adapter (Linksys & Intel) would show the info they are both using, in a reasonably understandable way.
But part is my fault as well.
I feel like you regarding when any networking device shows two (protocols? standards? - more on that later),e.g., WPA / WPA2 as a single choice, I don't know for sure what will happen under different scenarios. After lots of searching & reading, I haven't found anything in writing on that which I'd consider reputable. But I'm sure an explanation exists.
Here's what I found on some of my questions. Part of the problem is even experts use different terms and explanations - for the same thing.
Example: One site w/ a whole
book on wifi & the different standards & protocols & detailed history of EVERYTHING wifi, said,
Quote:
It should be understood that AES is a standard and not a protocol. A protocol is a series of steps designed to achieve a specific end, while a standard is a set of rules and guidelines that define an overall design structure. The AES standard specifies ...
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So THEY call AES (& others similar in function) a "Standard" for encryption.
And call WPA, WPA2
Quote:
new security protocols that replace WEP...
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Don't use older
WEP, WAP. Getting clearer? Hold on.
Another spiffy looking site said,
Quote:
AES is not a security protocol; it is a block cipher.
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So it's like Double Mint Gum - "
It's two, two, two things in one."
Yes, when you select different value under Linksys' router - wireless security entry they call "
security mode" (WEP, WPA, WPA2 - and they don't say which VERSION(s) of those or anything else), you're likely to see different router values under (WPA)
Algorithms. Also different values under NetworkManager. But they don't necessarily list the exact same name for router or network adapter settings, that are in fact talking about the same thing.
For example, this Linksys router lists WPA & WPA2 separately (they are entirely different). So I'm not sure why a wireless network adapter lists it as "WPA/WPA2."
Maybe there's a reason, but they're not sayin in the honking bit manual. Under what circumstance might the adapter fall back to WPA? For those listening in, after WPA has been shown to have problems - long ago, you don't want to be using WPA.
What I gleaned from (yawn!) reading, is AES is like a whole car. CCMP (you look it up) is a new, improved (50% more absorbent) engine that makes AES go.
So when (something) shows "AES/CCMP", or in Network Manager for my Intel wifi adapter, may show just "CCMP" (depending), they think that you should KNOW that,
Quote:
CCMP defines a set of rules that use the AES block cipher to enable the encryption and protection of IEEE 802.11 frames of data. AES is to CCMP what RC4 is to TKIP.
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As long as you remember that, you'll be fine.
The only way you can find out (some) of what is being used in Linux - by your wifi connection setup, is running some cli commands. Your distro's Network Manager may show more or less data than another. Mine doesn't show what frequency channel is used or what cipher algorithm (e.g., AES, AES-CCMP, CCMP) (but my router shows all that).
If you can't see the cipher algorithm, or channel is actually being used & you NEED to know, because running certain old, buggy "parts" in the wifi security settings may come back to bite you, there are plenty of simple cli commands to find what isn't shown elsewhere. Since Network Manager didn't show WHICH of WPA/WPA2 (shown together) it was using & I didn't want it using WPA, I ran CLI commands.
Find the logical name of the wireless network adapter: iwconfig
It'll be something like
wlp5s0 & will have wireless or network connection in the description (not eth or ethernet - that's the adapter for wired connection).
Then use the adapter name in a command, like "iwlist [adapter's name] scanning".
That should show if it's using WPA & TKIP(better wear a tinfoil hat) or WPA2 & cipher: AES+CCMP or just CCMP. Plus a lot of other useful data.
That's it for today, Buckaroos. For next class, read ch. 2 -> 27, in Everything You Need to Know About Wireless Security.