or pre-shared key (PSK) technology. It provides a high level of assurance to enterprises, small businesses and home users that data will remain protected and that only authorized users may access their networks. For enterprises that have already deployed IEEE 802.1x authentication, WPA offers the advantage of leveraging existing authentication databases and infrastructure.
•WPA-PSK:This is a special mode designed for home and small business users who do not have access to network authentication servers. In this mode, known as Pre-Shared Key, you manually enter the starting password in your access point or gateway, as well as in each wireless station in the network. WPA-PSK takes over automatically from that point, keeping unauthorized users who don’t have the matching password from joining the network, while encrypting the data traveling between authorized devices.
•WPA2: Like WPA, WPA2 supports IEEE 802.1x/EAP authentication, or PSK, technology. It also includes a new advanced encryption mechanism using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). AES is required for corporate or government users. The difference between WPA and WPA2 is that WPA2 provides data encryption via AES. In contrast, WPA uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP).
•WPA2-PSK:This is also for home and small business use. The difference between WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK is that WPA2-PSK provides data encryption via the AES. In contrast, WPA-PSK uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP).
•WPA-NONE:This is defined for Ad Hoc mode and behaves like WPA-PSK (WPA-PSK is only defined for Infrastructure mode). The
user manually enters the Pre-Shared Key in each wireless station in the network, and WPA-NONE controls unauthorized users who don’t have the matching Pre-Shared Key from joining the network. It also encrypts the data traveling between authorized devices.
802.1x Setting: When Authentication Type is set to “Open,” “Shared,” “WPA” or “WPA2,” you can also enable IEEE 802.1x Setting to use the authentication server or certification server to authenticate client users. NOTE: See the two separate 802.1x Setting sections below for details.
Encryption: Select from the drop-down menu.
•None: Disables the encryption mode.
