The simplest wireless guest solution

In this article I’ll try to present the simplest and cheapest solution available to any free Wi-Fi provider to offer encryption. This is based on Scenario 1 in my article Wireless Guest Networks

The scenario (summary)

• The provider is a coffee shop, let’s call them “Coffee ‘N WiFi”
• The provider needs a cheap and simple solution.
• Low traffic scenario

The solution

Encrypt your Wi-Fi with WPA2-PSK and publish the key. All you need to do is to make a plaque saying: “Internet! Network: CoffeNwifi; Password: Cappuccino”

Pros

• Easy to set up
• No need for expensive equipment
• Available today

Cons

• Doesn’t scale very well
• Users need to know the password
• Still possible to crack if you intercept the handshake

Summary

The PSK solution is simple and it does increase security one notch. Unfortunately it does not scale, so next week I’m going to present the second solution. That one is going to invent something new and would require vendor adaptation before it can be used.