TP-Link TL-WA601G User Manual page 39

TL-WA601G 108M Wireless Access Point User Guide
identifying a wireless local area network. For the wireless devices in a network to communicate
with each other, all devices must be configured with the same SSID. This is typically the
configuration parameter for a wireless PC card. It corresponds to the ESSID in the wireless
Access Point and to the wireless network name.
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) - A data privacy mechanism based on a 64-bit or 128-bit or
152-bit shared key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802.11 standard.
Wi-Fi - A trade name for the 802.11b wireless networking standard, given by the Wireless
Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA, see http://www.wi-fi.net), an industry standards group
promoting interoperability among 802.11b devices.
WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) - A group of computers and associated devices
communicate with each other wirelessly, which network serving users are limited in a local area.
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) - WPA is a security technology for wireless networks that
improves on the authentication and encryption features of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). In
fact, WPA was developed by the networking industry in response to the shortcomings of WEP.
One of the key technologies behind WPA is the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). TKIP
addresses the encryption weaknesses of WEP. Another key component of WPA is built-in
authentication that WEP does not offer. With this feature, WPA provides roughly comparable
security to VPN tunneling with WEP, with the benefit of easier administration and use. This is
similar to 802.1x support and requires a RADIUS server in order to implement. The Wi-Fi Alliance
will call this, WPA-Enterprise. One variation of WPA is called WPA Pre Shared Key or WPA-PSK
for short - this provides an authentication alternative to an expensive RADIUS server. WPA-PSK
is a simplified but still powerful form of WPA most suitable for home Wi-Fi networking. To use
WPA-PSK, a person sets a static key or "passphrase" as with WEP. But, using TKIP, WPA-PSK
automatically changes the keys at a preset time interval, making it much more difficult for hackers
to find and exploit them. The Wi-Fi Alliance will call this, WPA-Personal.
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