Setting up proper wireless encryption is easier than ever on Linux. WEP is broken and has been for a long time, but WPA and WPA2 are still going strong. Eric Geier shows how to configure your Linux client to connect to a proper wireless encryption and authentication server to set up a secure wireless connection.

Discovering and analyzing wireless networks requires a lot of sniffing and stumbling. Eric Geier shows how to stumble and sniff with Linux.

Following up on "Implementing One-way Encryption in PHP," my previous tutorial about using one-way encryption to build a secure online diary application, this article explores using PHP encryption for login authentication.

iwlist scan - shows wireless networks that are available in the area with basic encryption information
lshw -C network - Shows Details of Interface card and drivers of each networking device

lspci -nn - Shows PCI vendor and device codes as both numbers and names of hardware connected to the pci bus
lsusb - Shows USB connected hardware

In this third and final installment of how to survey the airwaves with Linux tools, Eric Geier shows us more tools for network surveying and discovery, deep snooping, and intrusion detection and alerting.

Now we'll open the CentOS firewall and configure our access points (APs). Then we'll distribute the CA file to all the computers and configure them with the encryption and authentication settings. Plus we'll set up SQL so you can store your user and AP information in a database rather than text files.

CentOS 5.3 now comes with disk encryption. When you install the operating system you have the option to encrypt block devices, partitions that you create. Block device encryption requires a passphrase or key as authentication in order to access the data on that partition.

One of the best ways to protect sensitive computer data like credit card numbers and social security information is to use encryption software. Encryption software executes an algorithm that is designed to encrypt data in such a way that it cannot be recovered (decrypted) without access to the key. It is a main component of all aspects of file protection and computer communication.

Eric Geier introduces us to to seven powerful commands for troubleshooting and configuring Linux networking, both wired and wireless.