How to share internet with WPA/WPA2 security?

Question

I'm using a macmini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard to share a cable internet connection. Sharing works fine except that security is limited to 40/128 bit WEP that is insecure (can be hacked in minutes). Is it possible to share the connection via wifi with stronger WPA/WPA2 security? Maybe using some third-party internet sharing app?

Answer 1

Mac OS X Mountain Lion supports Internet Sharing using WPA/WPA2. You will need to upgrade to get this functionality. This article has a little more info. And here is a screenshot of the new option for WPA2 in Mountain Lion (10.8):

Answer 2

This is not supported in Mac OS X 10.7 and lower. See:

1. Can I secure a Mac's ad hoc network better than just the default WEP?

2. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8339.html

Perhaps in the next version of the OS, but currently Lion does not accommodate changing the encryption/authentication protocol of an ad-hoc network based from the device.

Though I have looked, there is no software to my knowledge that supports this feature aside from using a separate OS. You can dual boot: Some versions of Windows do support this feature.

Answer 3

It seems that a work-around is to boot into an older version of the OS, configure WPA2, and then boot back.

I set up Internet Sharing a few OS versions ago, and the “Airport Setup” screen had a “Security” dropdown to choose between WEP, WPA, WPA2, and WPA2 Enterprise. Now, running 10.6.8, the “Security” dropdown is gone, and WEP seems to be the only choice. Yet, when I enable sharing on the machine, it still uses the previously-configured WPA2.