Where to find the wep encryption key?

[Alex@POD]

I just arrived at my mother's for a couple of weeks holiday, and as she has a wireless network in the house i thought i'd bring my laptop to surf and such. Only the network is wep encrypted and I have no idea where to find the key for it... Some computer-smart guy came to find it in my house when we had a new computer to connect to the network, so I know it can be done, but I really don't remember how... Help!

[ashes]

you will need to connect directly to the WAP using an ethernet cable. The address is probably 192.168.1.1 - look up the WAP manufacturers site for all the default info on that make of WAP.

If the admin passowrd has been changed you are stuffed I am afraid - unless you set it back to factory defaults and owner might not be very chuffed!

[fidgits]

yeah, as he said, unless its written down somewhere, you need to get it directly from the WAP...

unless of course you can surf to some, *ahem* websites which do happen to have WEP cracker application available.

[madras]

has the network name been changed from default?

you might get lucky and try
admin
admin

or search for the router model and see what the default is, or just ring the guy that installed it and ask him.

[madras]

you could also hard reset the router and set it up again.

[qube_TA]

what wireless router is it?

Do a google for the manual.

the default user/password is often admin/password

Good luck.

[Alex@POD]

What I am looking for is the encryption key, 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters (64 or 128 bit encryption), and when we installed an extra computer at home the guy managed to find the key from a computer already connected wirelessly... I will have a browse on the manufacturer's website though

Thanks!

[sneakyneil]

You could attack the mother-in-law's machine too, there are a few utils that will pull saved WEP keys back to plain text for you (poss. 'cain & abel' off the top of my head, google) Quicker than wep cracking.

You might find that the password for the router is saved into the mother in law's IE..

or, look for stickers / notes on the router, under the router, in the router's old box, notepads within 5 cubic meters of the router... etc..

[Alex@POD]

sneakyneil said:

You could attack the mother-in-law's machine too, there are a few utils that will pull saved WEP keys back to plain text for you (poss. 'cain & abel' off the top of my head, google) Quicker than wep cracking.

You might find that the password for the router is saved into the mother in law's IE..

or, look for stickers / notes on the router, under the router, in the router's old box, notepads within 5 cubic meters of the router... etc..

I have just done that to try to find the manufacturer's name, turns out the wep key is printed on the factory label, next to all the data. Now, where's that "dumbass" smiley?

ETA: actually that key doesn't seem to work, so the question still stands!

Edited by Alex@POD on Tuesday 6th March 14:45

[madras]

Alex@POD said:

sneakyneil said:

You could attack the mother-in-law's machine too, there are a few utils that will pull saved WEP keys back to plain text for you (poss. 'cain & abel' off the top of my head, google) Quicker than wep cracking.

You might find that the password for the router is saved into the mother in law's IE..

or, look for stickers / notes on the router, under the router, in the router's old box, notepads within 5 cubic meters of the router... etc..

I have just done that to try to find the manufacturer's name, turns out the wep key is printed on the factory label, next to all the data. Now, where's that "dumbass" smiley?

ETA: actually that key doesn't seem to work, so the question still stands!

Edited by Alex@POD on Tuesday 6th March 14:45

alex - all the WEP key is is a password that was setup on the network to gain access. probably "sunshine" or something.
point is if you can attach to the router at 192.168.1.1 (or whatever) you will no doubt be asked to login, now this may just be "admin" "password" or it oculd be some other default or it could actually be something secure.

so you either need to guess the WEP password for the network, or reset the WEP password by gaining access to the router as described above.

[Jinx]

If its BT wireless then the key is on a label on the back of the router(as is the network name) .

[spitfire-ian]

Jinx said:

If its BT wireless then the key is on a label on the back of the router(as is the network name) .

Although that can be changed in the advanced settings.

[Alex@POD]

Well as it turns out, there is a switch on the bottom of the router that needs to be clicked whenever a new computer is to be paired to it. Greater security I suppose, it works now anyway...