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Message from Steven
===================
James wrote:
>
> I'm beginning to think that older wireless cards, 

Do you consider the Aironet 350 an older card?
It's non-cardbus, IEEE 802.11b, and runs on
a standard 2.2.26 module.

> though they can be made to work under BL, 

It works.

> really should be avoided -- or at least should be 
> used only in certain circumstances.  It is just too 
> easy to eavesdrop on wireless networks that don't 
> have the latest encryption schemes implemented (WPA, 
> WPA2), 

The Aironet 350 has the following security:
--------------------------------------------------
802.1X support including LEAP, EAP-FAST, PEAP-GTC, 
PEAP-MSCHAP V2, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS and EAP-SIM to 
yield mutual authentication and dynamic, per-user, 
per-session encryption keys

Authenication by MAC address and by standard 802.11 
authentication mechanisms

Support for static and dynamic IEEE 802.11 WEP keys 
of 40 bits and 128 bits

TKIP enhancements: key hashing (per-packet keying), 
message integrity check (MIC) and broadcast key 
rotation via WPA TKIP and Cisco TKIP
---------------------------------------------------

Is that secure enough for you?

> and would definitely _never_ do any sort of financial 
> transactions using one (credit card purchases, banking).

Do you trust your wired connection for this?  Your wired 
connection passes through numerous routers where your 
packets could be intercepted by an unscrupulous hacker.  
How is that safer?

Cheers,
Steven