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Can a wifi network use both WPA and WPA2?

T

Todd102

Junior Member
The building I am at now provides wifi, and when connecting iPhone I get the 'security recommendation' message about making my wifi use WPA2 AES.

Anyway, I contacted the building manager who spoke with the internet people, and I was told both were enabled to allow more devices to be able to connect. Also, that, the device should automatically choose the best one.

I tried entering the network manually, selecting WPA2, but it would not let me connect.

Seems to me, iPhone (7 Plus) would choose WPA2 if available!

Does this seem odd?

I was sent a screenshot, here are the details, where after the colon is what was selected in the dropdown menu:

Broadcast: Yes
Client isolation: Enabled
Security Mode: WPA/WPA2 Mixed
Encryption: TKIP & AES
WPA Passphrase: the network password


Thanks!
 
WPA/WPA2 Mixed mode does allow both to connect. WPA will use TKIP, and WPA2 will use AES for encryption.

Honestly, I would not be connecting to any network that still uses WPA, it's extremely insecure.
 
Todd102 said:
I know, but how easily (for your average user)?

AND, once in, what kind of damage can be done?
Click to expand...

How easy? You can download a tool, click a few buttons, and go grab a sandwich. By the time you're back, you have access. I can't post direct links to the how-to's as they're against forum policy, but just googling "how to crack WPA" will have *you* able to do it in minutes.

What damage can be done? Well, they have direct access to the entire network behind the firewall. From there it's as simple as running a network scan to identify every device on the network and every single security vulnerability on every single device. They could use those vulnerabilities to gain access to pretty much any system on the network, they can sniff all the traffic on the network and steal usernames/passwords, the sky is the limit. What could someone malicious do if they were inside your house because you left the front door unlocked?
 
Todd102 said:
I know, but how easily (for your average user)?

AND, once in, what kind of damage can be done?
Click to expand...
Like the other poster said, at most you'd be looking at 20-30 minutes assuming they're using a low powered laptop.

If they've got a desktop with some real CPU power it wont take much time at all, a few minutes maybe.

They could inject malware, MITM attack to get bank info, passwords, etc. Possibilities are pretty much endless.
 
As a follow-up, I had used a travel router and created my private WPA2 network on top of this. How does that fare? Thanks!
 
Todd102 said:
As a follow-up, I had used a travel router and created my private WPA2 network on top of this. How does that fare? Thanks!
Click to expand...

So, you used your travel router to connect to the bldg wifi, and then you connected to your travel router? I'd say no one was easily cracking your wifi, between your laptop and your travel router thank god. However the past several years you've been doing that your session, or your travel router's session have been snoopable all along from the travel router's connection to the bldg wifi.
Look at some of the public wifi vpn's available if you're really worried.
 
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