About The Wireless Network - Intermec CN2B User Manual

Appendix A — Configurable Settings

About the Wireless Network

Terminology
192
Your wireless adapter (network interface card) connects to wireless net-
works of two types: infrastructure networks and ad-hoc networks.
• Infrastructure networks get you onto your corporate network and the
internet. Your CN2B Computer establishes a wireless connection to an
access point, which links you to the rest of the network. When you con-
nect to a network via an access point, you are using the 802.11b/g infra-
structure mode.
• Ad-hoc networks are private networks shared between two or more cli-
ents, even with no access point.
Each wireless network is assigned a name (or Service Set Identifier —
SSID) to allow multiple networks to coexist in the same area without
infringement.
Intermec recommends using security measures with wireless networks to
prevent unauthorized access to your network and to ensure your privacy of
transmitted data. The following are required elements for secure networks:
• Authentication by both the network and the user
• Authentication is cryptographically protected
• Transmitted data
There are many schemes available for implementing these features.
Below are terms you may encounter when configuring wireless networks:
• CKIP (Cisco Key Integrity Protocol)
This is Cisco's version of the TKIP protocol, compatible with Cisco Air-
net products.
• EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol)
802.11b/g uses this protocol to perform authentication. This is not nec-
essarily an authentication mechanism, but is a common framework for
transporting actual authentication protocols. Intermec provides a num-
ber of EAP protocols for you to choose the best for the network.
• TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)
This protocol is part of the IEEE 802.11b/g encryption standard for
wireless LANs., which provides per-packet key mixing, a message integ-
rity check and a re-keying mechanism, thus overcoming most of the
weak points of WEP. This encryption is more difficult to crack than the
standard WEP. Weak points of WEP include:
• No Installation Vector (IV) reuse protection
• Weak keys or no key updates
• No protection against message replay
• No detection of message tampering
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