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SECURITY
Security Mode: Unless one of these encryption modes is selected, wireless transmissions to and
from your wireless network can be easily intercepted and interpreted by unauthorized users.
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.
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 to generate session keys that are
unique for each wireless client.
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