Wireless Security - HP Jetdirect 280m - 802.11b Wireless Print Server User Manual

Network Basics
NETWORKS
Wireless
security
Wireless networks are
inherently less secure than
wired ones. In a wired
environment an intruder
needs to gain physical
access to your network
wiring to break into your
network; in a wireless
environment, he just needs
to be in range of the radio
waves that carry the
network traffic. Since these
waves penetrate building
walls and easily carry for
tens of meters, an intruder
sitting in a car in your
parking lot could monitor
the traffic on the wireless
LAN in your building.
To frustrate intruders, a
number of standards have
been developed to make
security for a wireless
network more-or-less
equivalent to that of wired
networks. These standards
work in three areas:
Network name (SSID):
A network name, or service
set identifier (SSID) is an
alphanumeric character
string that provides basic
access control on a wireless
network. To transmit onto
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