Cisco Systems DL-2159-05 Security Overview, Levels of Security, Encrypting Radio Signals with WEP

Chapter 8 Security Setup

Security Overview

Security Overview

This section describes the types of security features you can enable on the access point. The security features protect wireless communication between the access point and other wireless devices, control access to your network, and prevent unauthorized entry to the access point management system.

On an access point with two radios, you can assign different security settings to each radio.

Levels of Security

Security is vital for any wireless network, and you should enable all the security features available on your network. Figure 8-1shows possible levels of security on Cisco Aironet wireless networking equipment, from no security on the left to highest security on the right. The highest level of security, EAP authentication, interacts with a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server on your network to provide authentication service for wireless client devices.

Figure 8-1 Wireless LAN Security Levels

Default settings

Unique

SSID with Broadcast

SSID

disabled

Shared

key

authen- tication with WEP

Open

authen- tication with WEP

MAC- based authen- tication with WEP

EAP

authen- tication with WEP

EAP

authen- tication with MIC, TKIP, and

WEP

Not secure	Most secure
	65677

If you don’t enable any security features on your access point, anyone with a wireless networking device is able to join your network. If you enable open or shared-key authentication with WEP encryption, your network is safe from casual outsiders but vulnerable to intruders who use a hacking algorithm to calculate the WEP key. If you enable server-based EAP authentication with Message Integrity Check (MIC), Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP, also known as key hashing), and broadcast key rotation, your network is safe from all but the most sophisticated attacks against wireless security.

Encrypting Radio Signals with WEP

Just as anyone within range of a radio station can tune to the station’s frequency and listen to the signal, any wireless networking device within range of an access point can receive the access point’s radio transmissions. Because WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is the first line of defense against intruders, Cisco recommends that you use full encryption on your wireless network.

Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Access Point Software Configuration Guide

8-2 OL-2159-05