Netcom NB9W manual Wireless Security in Detail, Authentication and Encryption, Network Keys

Wireless Security in Detail

The following provides a detailed summary of wireless terms and acronyms and more in-depth explanations of the topic. It assumes little prior knowledge of wireless networking and is aimed at providing background for the terminology used in the NB9W Wireless Security screens.

Warning: Wireless Networking is a technically challenging subject!

Authentication and Encryption

The two major aims of wireless network security are:

(1)to prevent unauthorised persons from joining the network and

(2)to prevent interception of network data or ‘eavesdropping’. These aims are accomplished by:

•Authentication: establishes the identity of those seeking to join the network

•Encryption: ensures that data is protected in such a way that those outside the network cannot access it.

Network Keys

The term ‘network key’ is often used in the context of wireless networking. The Network Key can be a text string, although in some systems network keys are generated from a ‘pass-phrase’ which is entered in one field from which up to four keys are derived in fields underneath the entry field.

In all cases, the Wireless Router/Access Point and the workstations wishing to connect must use the same Network Key which needs to be communicated to clients prior to connection.

‘Re-keying’ refers to the frequency with which network keys are changed; for security purposes, they need to be changed frequently in case they re-occur frequently enough to identify them.

In some wireless systems, network keys are entered by a variety of means including:

•ASCII – any letter, number, or punctuation mark but no special characters

•Hex – Letters A-F, Numbers 0-9 only

•Pass phrase – enter a phrase in the top field of a set of fields, an algorithm then generates a series of keys based on the entered values.

These methods have been standardised in the later implementations of Wireless Security and are easier to use in WPA.

32	NB9/NB9W ADSL2+ VoIP Router
	YML790 Rev8