Axim X50 WEP key exposure: bad, yet not that bad

[Alexander Turcic]

A lot of PDA news sites reported today that Airscanner found a leak in the Windows Mobile Odyssey client that would reveal WEP keys of your stored WiFi connection in plaintext. Although this is true and represents a serious thread to those who are using the client, the normal user, such as myself, should not be affected by it.

Funk's Windows Mobile Odyssey client is of most interest to enterprise environments that require IEEE 802.1x. 802.1x is a standard for passing EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) over a wired or wireless LAN. With 802.1x, you package EAP messages in Ethernet frames and don't use PPP. Read here for more.

If you are hooked up with a standard WiFi router or access-point, you are probably using a less-secure WEP or a more secure WPA encryption. Neither of the two methods are handled by the Windows Mobile Odyseey client and are thus not affected by the key leak mentioned in the Airscanner article.