23
WEP
A method of encrypting data for wireless communication intended to provide the same level of
privacy as a wired network. WEP is not as secure as WPA encryption. To gain access to a
WEP network, you must know the key. The key is a string of characters that you create. When
using WEP, you must determine the level of encryption. The type of encryption determines the
key length. 128-bit encryption requires a longer key than 64-bit encryption. Keys are defined by
entering in a string in HEX (hexadecimal - using characters 0-9, A-F) or ASCII (American
Standard Code for Information Interchange - alphanumeric characters) format. ASCII format is
provided so you can enter a string that is easier to remember. The ASCII string is converted to
HEX for use over the network. Four keys can be defined so that you can change keys easily. A
default key is selected for use on the network.
Example:
64-bit hexadecimal keys are exactly 10 characters in length. (12345678FA is a valid string of
10 characters for 64-bit encryption.)
128-bit hexadecimal keys are exactly 26 characters in length.
(456FBCDF123400122225271730 is a valid string of 26 characters for 128-bit encryption.)
64-bit ASCII keys are up to 5 characters in length (DMODE is a valid string of 5 characters for
64-bit encryption.)
128-bit ASCII keys are up to 13 characters in length (2002HALOSWIN1 is a valid string of 13
characters for 128-bit encryption.)
WPA-Personal and WPA-Enterprise
Both of these options select some variant of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) -- security
standards published by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The
WPA Mode
further refines the variant that the
router should employ.
WPA Mode:
WPA is the older standard; select this option if the clients that will be used with the
router only support the older standard. WPA2 is the newer implementation of the stronger IEEE
802.11i security standard. With the "WPA2" option, the router tries WPA2 first, but falls back to
WPA if the client only supports WPA. With the "WPA2 Only" option, the router associates only
with clients that also support WPA2 security.
Cipher Type:
The encryption algorithm used to secure the data communication. TKIP
(Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) provides per-packet key generation and is based on WEP.
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a very secure block based encryption. With the "TKIP
and AES" option, the router negotiates the cipher type with the client, and uses AES when
available.
Group Key Update Interval:
The amount of time before the group key used for broadcast and
multicast data is changed.
WPA-Personal
This option uses Wi-Fi Protected Access with a Pre-Shared Key (PSK).
Pre-Shared Key:
The key is entered as a pass-phrase of up to 63 alphanumeric characters in
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) format at both ends of the
wireless connection. It cannot be shorter than eight characters, although for proper security it
needs to be of ample length and should not be a commonly known phrase. This phrase is used
