Privacy And Powerline Adapters; Setting Up A Private Powerline Network - ZyXEL Communications PLA-450 User Manual

Chapter 6 HomePlug AV
2 Then plug your ZyXEL Device into a power outlet.
The ZyXEL Device is ready for connection on a powerline network.
3 Connect another HomePlug AV compatible adapter to a computer and then plug it in on
the same home or office wiring.
After configuring the settings on all adapters (see
now connect to the powerline network and to the Internet. Your powerline network can be
further expanded by plugging additional powerline adapters into other outlets in your home
and connecting other computers or network devices (for example, a printer) to them.
In this User's Guide the electrical wiring network may be referred to as the "powerline
network".

6.2 Privacy and Powerline Adapters

When the ZyXEL Device communicates with each other HomePlug AV compliant powerline
adapters, they use encryption to scramble the information that is sent in the powerline
network. Encryption is like a secret code. If you do not know the secret code, you cannot
understand the message. The HomePlug AV standard uses 128-bit AES (Advanced
Encryption Standard) to safely transmit data between powerline adapters.
For the ZyXEL Device and powerline adapters to communicate with each other they all need
to use the same Network Membership Key (NMK). Otherwise, they cannot unscramble the
encrypted data sent in the powerline network.
The NMK is derived from the network name (password) you assign to the
and
powerline adapters. By default all HomePlug powerline adapters are configured with the
network password HomePlugAV. This allows all HomePlug powerline adapters and the
ZyXEL Device to communicate with each other without any software configuration. This also
means that if you don't change the network password, any HomePlug AV powerline adapter
connected to your powerline circuit can see your network data.
Change the network password on your powerline adapters to ensure secure
data transmission on your powerline network.

6.2.1 Setting Up a Private Powerline Network

To prevent others compromising your network security, you can create a private network.
Create a private network by changing the network password only on the powerline adapters
you want to communicate in your network. Only the powerline adapters with the same
network password can communicate in your network.
The following figure shows a scenario A - where all the powerline adapters have the same
network password (1) and scenario B - where some adapters use password 1 and some use
password 2.
72
Section 6.3 on page 74) your computer can
ZyXEL Device
PLA-450 User's Guide