Wireless Security Configuration; Understanding The Security Options - NETGEAR WAG511 User Manual

This chapter describes how to configure the security features of your NETGEAR Dual Band
Wireless PC Card 32-bit CardBus WAG511.
Note: These instructions refer to the WAG511 configuration utility. The Windows XP
wireless configuration utility must deselected. Check if this is so by viewing the
Properties of the Network Connections for the WAG511. Click the Wireless Networks
tab and clear the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" check box.

Understanding the Security Options

For a full discussion of wireless security technologies, please see
page B-6. The WAG511 configuration utility provides the following security options:
• WEP
Wired Equivalent Privacy is an existing, widely implemented and supported, data encryption
protocol for 802.11 wireless networks. All wireless nodes on the network are configured with
a static 64-bit or 128-bit Shared Key for data encryption but authentication is optional.
• WPA
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a new specification of standards-based, interoperable
security enhancements that increase the level of data protection and access control for wireless
networks. WPA requires authentication and features strong data encryption that includes
dynamic key generation. WPA uses the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) via WPA
enabled wireless access points using an updated version of the 802.1x protocols to access
RADIUS and certificate servers which enable various authentication schemes such as
Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Protected EAP (PEAP).
• WPA-PSK
WPA Pre-Shared Key (WPA-PSK) performs authentication and strong data encryption that
includes dynamic key generation based on a pre-shared key. WPA-PSK does not need
RADIUS or certificate servers.

Wireless Security Configuration

Wireless Security Configuration
202-10041-01 September 2004
Chapter 5
"Wireless Security Overview" on
5-1