Table 69 Wireless Security Relational Matrix; User Authentication; Security Parameters Summary - ZyXEL Communications ZyXEL ZyAIR G-1000 User Manual

The Message Integrity Check (MIC) is designed to prevent an attacker from capturing data
packets, altering them and resending them. The MIC provides a strong mathematical function
in which the receiver and the transmitter each compute and then compare the MIC. If they do
not match, it is assumed that the data has been tampered with and the packet is dropped.
By generating unique data encryption keys for every data packet and by creating an integrity
checking mechanism (MIC), TKIP makes it much more difficult to decode data on a Wi-Fi
network than WEP, making it difficult for an intruder to break into the network.
The encryption mechanisms used for WPA and WPA-PSK are the same. The only difference
between the two is that WPA-PSK uses a simple common password, instead of user-specific
credentials. The common-password approach makes WPA-PSK susceptible to brute-force
password-guessing attacks but it's still an improvement over WEP as it employs an easier-to-
use, consistent, single, alphanumeric password.

User Authentication

WPA or WPA2 applies IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to
authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database.
If both an AP and the wireless clients support WPA2 and you have an external RADIUS
server, use WPA2 for stronger data encryption. If you don't have an external RADIUS server,
you should use WPA2 -PSK (WPA2 -Pre-Shared Key) that only requires a single (identical)
password entered into each access point, wireless gateway and wireless client. As long as the
passwords match, a wireless client will be granted access to a WLAN.
If the AP or the wireless clients do not support WPA2, just use WPA or WPA-PSK depending
on whether you have an external RADIUS server or not.
Select WEP only when the AP and/or wireless clients do not support WPA or WPA2. WEP is
less secure than WPA or WPA2.

Security Parameters Summary

Refer to this table to see what other security parameters you should configure for each
Authentication Method/ key management protocol type. MAC address filters are not
dependent on how you configure these security features.

Table 69 Wireless Security Relational Matrix

AUTHENTICATION
METHOD/ KEY
MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL
Open
Open
Wireless LANs
ENCRYPTION ENTER
METHOD MANUAL KEY
None No
WEP No
Yes
Yes
G-1000 User's Guide
ENABLE IEEE 802.1X
No
Enable with Dynamic WEP Key
Enable without Dynamic WEP Key
Disable
167