NETGEAR WG102NA manual Security Profiles

NETGEAR ProSafe 802.11g Wireless Access Point WG102 Reference Manual

•Restrict Access Based on MAC address. You can restrict access to only trusted PCs so that unknown PCs cannot wirelessly connect to the WG102. MAC address filtering adds an obstacle against unwanted access to your network, but the data broadcast over the wireless link is fully exposed.

•Turn Off the Broadcast of the Wireless Network Name (SSID). If you disable broadcast of the SSID, only devices that have the correct SSID can connect. This nullifies the wireless network ‘discovery’ feature of some products such as Windows XP, but the data is still fully exposed to a determined snoop using specialized test equipment like wireless sniffers.

•WEP. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption provides data security. WEP Shared Key authentication and WEP data encryption will block all but the most determined eavesdropper.

•WPA, WPA-PSK, WPA2, or WPA2-PSK.Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) data encryption provides data security. The very strong authentication along with dynamic per frame rekeying of WPA make it virtually impossible to compromise. Because this is a new standard, wireless device driver and software availability may be limited.

•WPA with Radius, WPA2 with Radius, or WPA and WPA2 with Radius. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) data encryption provides data security. The very strong authentication along with dynamic per frame rekeying of WPA make it virtually impossible to compromise. Because this is a new standard, wireless device driver and software availability may be limited.

Security Profiles

Security profiles let you configure unique security settings for each SSID. The WG102 Access Point supports up to eight SSIDs. The Security Profile Settings screen is shown in the following figure. To edit a security profile, select it from the list, and click Edit.

2-2 Configuring Security

v1.0, July 2008