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4 Wireless networking
DMS3-CTC-25-282 v1.0
4.4 Securing your wireless connection
Introduction
We recommend you to protect all wireless communication between the wireless clients and your TG789vac v2 with a wireless
key. This means that:
• Only clients that use the correct Network Name (SSID) and wireless key can connect to your network.
• All data passing through your wireless access point is secured by encryption.
Encryption types
Over the years a number of encryption methods have been developed. The list below gives you an overview of the
encryption types supported by the TG789vac v2 and ordered by descending security level; you will find the highest level of
security at the top of the list:
For Enterprise environment(s):
• RADIUS Server (WPA):
Wireless clients first need to authenticate to the Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) server. The
RADIUS server then provides the wireless key that must be used to encrypt its data. The RADIUS server regularly
updates this key at a specified interval.
• If you do not have a RADIUS server in your network, use on the of the encryption types for home and small office
environment.
For home or small office environment:
• WPA-PSK Encryption:
The wireless connection is secured with a pre-shared key that has been defined by the user. Wireless clients must be
configured with this key before they can connect to the TG789vac v2. The TG789vac v2 supports the following WPA-
PSK versions (ordered by descending security):
WPA2-PSK:
the most recent and most secure version of WPA-PSK.
Choose this version if you are sure that all your wireless clients support WPA2-PSK.
WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK
: this is a mixed mode.
In this mode WPA2-PSK, is the preferred encryption type but wireless clients do not support WPA2-PSK can still use
WPA-PSK as encryption type.
Choose this option if not all of your wireless clients support WPA2-PSK or if you are not sure. Wireless clients that
support WPA2-PSK will use WPA2-PSK, the others will use WPA-PSK.
WPA-PSK
: the first version of
WPA-PSK.
Choose this option if you are sure that none of your wireless clients support WPA2-PSK.
• WEP Encryption:
The least safe encryption type used for wireless connections. Like WPA-PSK it uses a user-defined key, but WEP has
been proven to have security issues.
Configuration
To secure your wireless network with:
• WPA encryption (via RADIUS), continue with
“4.4.1 Configuring WPA encryption” on page 41
• WPA-PSK encryption, continue with
“4.4.2 Configuring WPA-PSK encryption” on page 42
If you want to configure WPA2(-PSK) on the built-in wireless utility of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), you
must first:
• Upgrade your Windows XP to Service Pack 3.
- or -
• Install the following update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917021
.
Although the TG789vac v2 allows you to use WEP or no security, we strongly advise against using one of them!
Use
WPA(2)-PSK
or
RADIUS
instead.
