Hands-On Report--Enabling WPA Security on Your AirPort Extreme Base Station

As we reported yesterday, Apple released AirPort Sofware v3.3 and Extreme Base Station Firmware v5.3. The main feature of the release is that it enables the ability of original AirPort cards to use Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security in place of the older less secure WEP with AirPort Extreme Base Stations, something that only the new AirPort Extreme cards have been able to do until now. So if you have Macs on a wireles network with a mixture of original and Extreme AirPort cards or just original AirPort cards, you can now move up from WEP to WPA.

Enterprise mode is designed for a larger network where an IT professional is most likely setting up and managing the network. In order to set up a WPA Enterprise network, an 802.1X connection must be set up first in Internet Connect. The 802.1X connection requires an authentication protocol, such as TTLS, LEAP, or PEAP. It also requires an authentication server to manage network users' credentials and certificates.

Personal mode is for the home or small office network and can be set up and managed by most users. Personal mode does not require a separate authentication server. Users of the network usually need only enter a user name and password to join the network.

So WPA Personal Mode is for us. We have been using 128-bit WEP security for our wireless network on an AirPort Extreme Base Station because it has a 700 MHz iBook and G4 Cube that both use the original AirPort card. We also have 17" and 12" PowerBook G4s that use the newer AirPort Extreme card. WEP, even at 128 bits, is relatively easily compromised by a determined hacker so we are glad that the tougher WPA is now available.

Enabling WPA on your AirPort Extreme Base Station and Macs is simple. First, update each Mac (including iMacs, PowerBooks and iBooks of course) with AirPort 3.3 and then update the firmware in your AirPort Extreme Base Station to v5.3 with the AirPort software released yesterday. Then follow these steps for personal WPA mode:

1. Open AirPort Admin Utility, select your base station, and click "Configure".
2. Click "Show All Settings", and then click "Change Wireless Security" in the AirPort pane.
3. Choose "WPA Personal" from the Wireless Security pop-up menu.
4. Choose "Password" from the pop-up menu and enter an ASCII password of 8 to 63 ASCII characters. You can also choose Pre-Shared Key to enter a hexadecimal password of exactly 64 hexadecimal characters.
5. Click the "Update" button.

We used the same password that we had been using with our 128-bit WEP, not an good idea from a strict security perspective, but we've had no hack-ins so far. When we tried to reconnect after rebooting, we had to reselect the network name in the AirPort menu and click on a change to our keychain in the dialog box that popped up. All four Macs, with original and Extreme AirPort cards, reconnected seamlessly.