On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 3:10 PM, Grant <emailgr...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>>> Is there any way to verify that my wireless client connections are >>>>>>> encrypted via WPA2? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> - Grant >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> iwlist $interface scan >>>>>> >>>>>> Will give you enough information to tell if the wireless network >>>>>> supports WPA (instead of being WPA2-only). I don't know how you might >>>>>> inspect a connection from the client's perspective. That probably >>>>>> depends on the tool you're using. >>>>> >>>>> Is it strange that I get this from iwconfig on the connected client: >>>>> >>>>> Encryption key:off >>>> >>>> That's normal. iwconfig only knows about WEP. WPA and WPA2 are >>>> different animals. >>> >>> Got it, thanks for your help Michael. >> >> Actually, I think I was only half-right. It's normal for iwconfig to >> show Encryption key:off when connected to WPA and WPA2 networks, it's >> true that WPA and WPA2 are different animals, and I believe it's true >> that iwconfig only knows about WEP. >> >> But there's something strange about the "Encryption key:" line. A >> survey of my apartment from my laptop, which I connected to via ssh, >> revealed that "iwconfig" reports "Encryption key:off", while "iwlist" >> shows "Encryption key:on" for the BSSID I'm connected to (And I'm >> showing "IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1" for my encryption mode). >> >> I don't know the cause of the discrepancy, though I could guess at a >> half-dozen different plausible sources. > > I thought you were saying iwconfig doesn't know about WPA/WPA2 but > iwlist does. That would account for the discrepancy, right?
That allows for a discrepancy, but it doesn't satisfactorily account for it. "Encryption: on", to me, is a superset of "Encryption key: on". The best explanation I can think of is that iwconfig's "Encryption key" is referring to a piece of hardware state involving encryption, but that that's turned off after a handoff to something else, and that iwlist's "Encryption key" means you need an encryption key to get in in the first place. -- :wq
