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Wireless Protected Access (WPA) is the new standard in the wireless security.
However, not all wireless cards and adapters support this technology. Please
check your wireless adapter's user manual to check if it supports WPA. Instead
of a hex key, WPA uses only passphrases, which are much easier to remember.
The following section, intended for the home, home-office, and small-office user,
presents a few different ways to maximize the security of your wireless network.
At the time of publication, four Encryption Methods are available:
Encryption Methods:
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)
(insert chart from P74488-A, p.16)
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
WEP is a common protocol that adds security to all Wi-Fi-compliant wireless
products. WEP gives wireless networks the equivalent level of privacy protection
as a comparable wired network.
64-Bit WEP
128-Bit Wired
Wi-Fi Protected
Equivalent
Access-TKIP
Privacy
128-bit WEP
WPA-TKIP/AES
(or just WPA)
Better
Best
Static keys
Dynamic key
encryption and
mutual
authentication
More secure
TKIP (Temporal
than 64-bit
Key Integrity
WEP using a
Protocol) added
key length of
so that keys are
104 bits plus
rotated and
24 additional
encryption is
bits of system-
strengthened
generated data
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
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