Securing Your Wi-Fi Network - Belkin ME1004-R User Manual

Using the Web-Based Advanced User Interface
Securing your Wi-Fi
Here are a few different ways you can maximize the security of your
wireless network and protect your data from prying eyes and ears. This
section is intended for the home, home office, and small office user.
At the time of this User Manual's publication, there are four encryption
methods available.
Name 64-Bit Wired
Equivalent
Privacy
Acronym 64-bit WEP
Security Good
Features Static keys
Encryption
keys based
on RC4
algorithm
(typically
40-bit keys)
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
WEP is a common protocol that adds security to all Wi-Fi-compliant
wireless products. WEP was designed to give wireless networks the
equivalent level of privacy protection as a comparable wired network.
64-Bit WEP
64-bit WEP was first introduced with 64-bit encryption, which includes
a key length of 40 bits plus 24 additional bits of system-generated data
(64 bits total). Some hardware manufacturers refer to 64-bit as 40-bit
encryption. Shortly after the technology was introduced, researchers
found that 64-bit encryption was too easy to decode.
Network
®
128-Bit Wired
Equivalent
Privacy
128-bit WEP
Better
Static keys
More secure
than 64-bit
WEP using a
key length of
104 bits plus
24 additional
bits of system-
generated data
Wi-Fi Protected
Access-TKIP
WPA-TKIP/AES
(or just WPA)
Best
Dynamic key
encryption
and mutual
authentication
TKIP (Temporal
Key Integrity
Protocol)
added so
that keys are
rotated and
encryption is
strengthened
44
Wi-Fi Protected
Access 2
WPA2-AES
(or just WPA2)
Best
Dynamic key
encryption
and mutual
authentication
AES (Advanced
Encryption
Standard)
does not
cause any
throughput loss