Belkin PM01218ea F5D7634-4 user manual Wired Equivalent Privacy WEP, Bit WEP, Encryption Keys

Manually Configuring your Router

Table of Contents sections 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

WEP is a common protocol that adds security to all wireless products that are compliant with Wi-Fi. WEP was designed to give wireless networks the equivalent level of privacy protection as a comparable wired network.

64-Bit WEP

64-bit WEP was first introduced with 64-bit encryption, which includes a key length of 40 bits plus 24 additional bits of system-generated data (64 bits total). Some hardware manufacturers refer to 64-bit as 40-bit encryption. Shortly after the technology was introduced, researchers found that 64-bit encryption was too easy to decode.

128-Bit WEP

As a result of 64-bit WEP’s potential security weaknesses, a more secure method of 128-bit encryption was developed. 128-bit encryption includes a key length of 104 bits plus 24 additional bits of system- generated data (128 bits total). Some hardware manufacturers refer to 128-bit as 104-bit encryption. Most of the new wireless equipment in the market today supports both 64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption, but you might have older equipment that only supports 64-bit WEP. All Belkin wireless products will support both 64-bit and 128-bit WEP.

Encryption Keys

After selecting either the “64-bit” or “128-bit WEP” encryption mode, it is critical that you generate an encryption key. If the encryption key is not consistent throughout the entire wireless network, your wireless networking devices will be unable to communicate with one another on your network and you will not be able to successfully communicate within your network. You can enter your key by typing in the hex key manually, or you can type in a passphrase in the “Passphrase” field and click “Generate” to create a key. A hex (hexadecimal) key is a mixture of numbers and letters from A–F and 0–9. For 64-bit WEP, you need to enter 10 hex keys. For 128-bit WEP, you need to enter 26 hex keys.

For instance:

AF 0F 4B C3 D4 = 64-bit WEP key

C3 03 0F AF 0F 4B B2 C3 D4 4B C3 D4 E7 = 128-bit WEP key

The WEP passphrase is NOT the same as a WEP key. Your wireless card uses this passphrase to generate your WEP keys, but different hardware manufacturers might have different methods for generating the keys. If you have equipment from multiple vendors in your network, you can use the hex WEP key from your Router or access point and enter it manually into the hex WEP key table in your wireless card’s configuration screen.

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