Slashdot Mirror
Apple's New, Improved Airport
timbck2 writes: "Apple has just released a new and greatly improved version of their Airport 802.11b wireless network access point, with better WEP encryption (128-bit now instead of 40-bit), better non-Mac PC integration, and a new LAN connection port. Here are the tech specs." An anonymous reader pointed to Apple's rather bland press release as well. This is a good upgrade to the Airport, with thanks probably due in part to companies like Linksys who are making much less expensive 802.11 base stations (which work great with Airport cards, too), though lacking a modem.
I'm still of the school that security should take place higher up on the OSI model.
I don't like the idea of replacing hardware to ensure security.
We need a secure DHCP variant and encrypted IP, not open DHCP and scrambled network frames. The reasons are numerous. Security should be handled in IP, not in hardware.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Ignore WEP and use real security on your link. There are many options.
Having both is very cool for portability. I have one of the original Apple Airports, and I use it at home and at work on an Ethernet-based Internet connection, and at my girlfriend's apartment and during presentations with a modem-based Internet connection.
My only complaint is that it's awkward shape makes it hard to fit into my bag.
My Web Page
I imagine he has interference in the form of walls. it depends what your house is made of, of course, but walls and floors can seriously diminish the range of the signal.
Thats what we do. Use 128 bit passwords, but then treat the link as insecure. Remember that good security comes in layers. The 128 bit WEP may not provide foolproof security, but it is certainly a deterrent to attack, and if you only run VPN traffic over the network you add yet another layer the cracker must compromise, and if you require that everything connected to the network have a good firewall (with a specified standard ruleset that allows only VPN traffic, and only to the IPs and MACs that we're expecting) then you add yet another layer of security.
What I really want is for the cards to rotate the WEP codes on a regular basis (once ever second for instance) automatically. I actually implemented this on our WaveLans with FreeBSD, but unfortunatly it prevented Windows users from connecting because the Windows drivers weren't nearly as automatable. It also opens a big can of worms with keeping the machines synchronized (ntp helps, but what happens when someone goes away for awhile and their clock drifts?) and coming up with a way of producing the same pseudo-random number on all machines without it being predictable since you obviously can't send the encryption key over the air. This would obviously work a lot better if the cards themselves implemented it and just ran it transparently with only a little bit of extra configuration data (a 128 bit or bigger seed).
I read the internet for the articles.
Sgifford wrote: "Having both is very cool for portability. I have one of the original Apple Airports, and I use it at home and at work on an Ethernet-based Internet connection, and at my girlfriend's apartment and during presentations with a modem-based Internet connection.
My only complaint is that it's awkward shape makes it hard to fit into my bag."
hear hear! I went with the linksys (the one with the 4-port switch, too) in part because it seemed more stable sitting on the top of a PC case than the Airport does, and in part because I had immediate need of the additional ethernet connections.
If apple would make a nice g4-translucent case but at least vaguely rectangular, with sturdy and stable rubber feet, and all the features of the current (new) AP, I would have bought that instead, and an additional little tiny linksys 10/100 switch in addition.
Oh well -- sometimes Apple makes aesthetically pleasing decisions, and sometimes they make aesthetically pleasing *and* practical decision. The shape of the adapter on my iBook unfortunately falls only under the first of these.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
You can always count on slashdot to find just the right angle on an Apple-related post - negative. It might have easily been pointed out that Apple was the first to integrate 802.11 into laptops and desktops. But no, the salient issue it seems is that Linksys makes a cheaper access point. Not that it isn't true! I freakin' OWN a Linksys. It's just that slashdot can be positively COUNTED on to knock Apple, no matter what the story is.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
I would say the #1 blunder in Apple's release of this product is lack of support for configuring it from an x86 PC (running Windows or Linux or your BSD of choice).
Apple's goal with devices like this and the iPod is not to have everyone (including wintel users) buy them, but to provide more value and a better experience to the Mac platform. From what I can tell, Apple doesn't make much money on the base stations themselves. But as part of the total Mac equation, it makes a lot of sense, espeically in the long term.
They may not explicitly prevent wintel machines from using these devices, but there's no point in making it easy seeing as their main goal is to sell computers.
- Scott
Scott Stevenson
Tree House Ideas