"zuma" <drgaryholland@hotmail.com> hath wroth:
>My wifi card first establishes a connection with an access point . the
>access point has the ssid I set up but it establishes the connection with
>encryption disabled. The reconnects or at least seems to reconnect in
>encrypted mode. This is not normal behavior and I'm wondering if I'm
>connected to a access point serving as a proxy or gateway. Anyone shed some
>light on this subject. The whole idea behind encryption is to estabish a
>secure encrypted connection. I am using wpa2.
How do you know that it's initially associating without encryption?
What sniffer or status monitor program are you using to determine
this? Any particular hardware?
In a way, you're correct. The initial association with the access
point is done without encryption. The access point and client
initially exchange radio connection details. However, the next step
in the process is to exchange encryption parameters and keys. You can
see this exchange with a sniffer as it's done without encryption,
because a common encryption protocol and key have not yet been
established.
In addition, there are quite a few packets that are sent without
encryption. For example, all broadcasts and management frames are
sent at the slowest speed (1Mbit/sec for 802.11b and 6Mbits/sec for
802.11g) so that all the other devices on the channel can also decoded
the data. This also exposes all MAC address, which are by necessity
not encrypted.
Have you tried to connect without encryption? You can't because the
access point or wireless router determines the encryption level, not
the client. Therefore, if some evil hacker wanted to use your alleged
security problem, they would have a problem convincing the access
point to function without encryption.
--
Jeff Liebermann
jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
encrypted or no encrypted when establishing connection 
Linear Mode
