Installing The Wag302 Wireless Access Point - NETGEAR WAG302 - ProSafe Dual Band Wireless Access Point Reference Manual

ProSafe Dual Band Wireless Access Point WAG302 Reference Manual (802.11a/g)
WAG302
Figure 2-1
There are several ways you can enhance the security of your wireless network:
• Restrict Access Based on MAC address. You can restrict access to only trusted PCs so that
unknown PCs cannot wirelessly connect to the WAG302. MAC address filtering adds an
obstacle against unwanted access to your network, but the data broadcast over the wireless link
is fully exposed.
• Turn Off the Broadcast of the Wireless Network Name (SSID). If you disable broadcast of
the SSID, only devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This nullifies the wireless
network "discovery" feature of some products such as Windows XP, but the data is still fully
exposed to a determined snoop using specialized test equipment like wireless sniffers.
• Use WEP. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption provides data security. WEP
Shared Key authentication and WEP data encryption will block all but the most determined
eavesdropper.
• Use WPA or WPA-PSK. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) data encryption provides data
security. The very strong authentication along with dynamic per frame rekeying of WPA make
it virtually impossible to compromise. Because this is a new standard, wireless device driver
and software availability may be limited.

Installing the WAG302 Wireless Access Point

Before installing the ProSafe 802.11a/g Dual Band Wireless Access Point WAG302, you should
make sure that your Ethernet network is up and working. You will be connecting the access point
to the Ethernet network so that computers with 802.11b or 802.11a/g wireless adapters will be able
Basic Installation and Configuration
v2.0, May 2006
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