Its a stupid Limitation Nintendo decided to not fix. Sony fixed the PS Vita PSP Mode WiFi Problem the Right way allowing PSP games to use the Vita's Wireless N card via some sort of wrapper so that PSP games have Internet access on a WPA2 only Wireless N only network even.
Nintendo could of easily did this also, instead,we got WEP for Flashcards and WPA1 for DSi games. only 3DS games and apps can use WPA2.
Actually... network handling is done by the ARM7 binary in each game. So in order to do that in DS-mode, they'd have to replace the ARM7 binary.
For every game.
Well, a lot of games use the same generic ARM7, but a lot of them don't as well. A common older trick back when DS games used save-based protections (the Sonic/Sega racing game for an example) was to swap the ARM7 binary of the game for an older one, so the save detection/protection/deletion wouldn't occur.
Sure, anyone could - the tools are freely available. That doesn't give you network access though.
It does let you see any data flying around that's not encrypted with a VPN, SSL, or some other sort of tunnel-type method that's underneath the network encryption... which is one of the main reasons that wireless encryption is used.
Even if you hack the encryption, there are ways of keeping you away from the network - in fact, there's plenty. MAC Black/White listing
Source/destination MAC addreses are in the 802.11 frame headers (which would be pretty much plaintext to anybody once the WEP security is broken), and MAC address spoofing means the hacker can try to connect to your network, posing as a system that's allowed.
That wouldn't do anything on a local network, as a device can always turn DHCP off and set it's own static IP... which can be anything within the usable block,
including addresses that aren't given out by DHCP (for example when routers start giving out addresses in the .100+ range, it lets anything from .2-.99 be statically-requested by the client, which is "standard practice" anyways in commercial applications, just being mimicked at home because home users won't give a shit about "only" having 150 or so local devices on at once XD).
Like, only allowing a single device on by only giving one subnet (which has only one allowable host out of two usable) access to the internet? I guess that'd be one reason to use a /30...
Well the hacker can just assign his machine the IP/MAC of yours, send some TCP handshake packets (not sure which ones with which flags as I've never done this personally), and kick yours off in place of his (at which point regaining access to the router is pretty much "hook a wire into it, or make use of that reset button" to go the easiest route).
- lots and lots of stuff. If you want to use Online on the DS, you need some kind of a WEP connection, and that's that. You just have to deal with it.
The suggested method is using a separate AP that's synced only with the DS
Agreed here. If you can manage to get one of those "DS wireless adapter" things for the PC and get it working, that'd be the simplest and safest (from what I read it's proprietary).
EDIT: Oh shit I started another Rydian/Foxi conversation.
MORE AFTER THIS COMMERCIAL BREAK.