Cisco Aironet 340 Series, Hardware Installation Manual

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Cisco Aironet Wireless LAN Adapters Hardware Installation Guide
OL-0795-01
Chapter 1 Product Overview
Security Features of the Client Adapter
LEDs
The client adapter has two LEDs that glow or blink to indicate the status of the
adapter or to convey error messages. Refer to Chapter 4 for an interpretation of
the LED codes.
Security Features of the Client Adapter
The client adapter supports two principal security features to protect your data as
it is transmitted through your wireless network: Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
keys and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) or LEAP (also referred to as
EAP - Cisco Wireless).
WEP Keys
WEP is an optional IEEE 802.11 feature that provides your client adapter and
other devices on your wireless network with data confidentiality equivalent to that
of a wired LAN. It involves packet-by-packet data encryption by the transmitting
device and decryption by the receiving device.
Each device within your wireless network is assigned up to four encryption keys,
called WEP keys, that encrypt data before it is transmitted. If a device receives a
packet that is not encrypted with the appropriate key (as the WEP keys of all
devices must match), the device discards the packet and never delivers it to the
intended receiver.
For the client adapter, WEP is implemented through the client utilities. In
Windows and Linux operating systems, the Client Encryption Manager (CEM)
utility allows you to set WEP keys, and the Aironet Client Utility (ACU) is used
to enable WEP. In the MacOS 9.x operating system, WEP keys are set and
enabled in one utility.
Note
Refer to the Cisco Aironet Wireless LAN Adapters Software
Configuration Guide for instructions on setting WEP keys and
enabling WEP for your specific operating system.