NETGEAR RangeMax™ NEXT Wireless Router WNR834B User Manual

Safeguarding Your Network 2-5

v2.1, July 2007
Balancing performance factors (throughput, latency, battery consumption, and equipment compatibility) against the value of information on your network, select an appropriate security level. As a minimum, NETGEAR recommends using WEP with Shared Key authentication. Note: The Security Options displayed in this menu may change depending on the current selection of Wireless Mode.

Table2-1. Basic Wireless Security Options

Field Description
None No wireless security. Only recommended for troubleshooting wireless connectivity.
WEP WEP offers the following options:
• Open System
With Open Network authentication and 64- or 128-bit WEP Data Encryption, the WNR834B
does perform data encryption but does not perform any authentication. Anyone can join the
network. This setting provides very little practical wireless security.
• Shared Key
With Shared Key authentication, a wireless device must know the WEP key in order to join
the network. Choose the Encryption Strength (64- or 128-bit data encryption). Manually
enter the key values or enter a word or group of printable characters in the Passphrase box.
Manually entered keys are not case sensitive but passphrase characters are case sensitive.
Note: Not all wireless adapter configuration utilities support passphrase key generation.
•Auto
The wireless router automatically detects whether Open System or Shared Key is used.
WPA-PSK
WPA2-PSK WPA-Pre-shared Key does perform authentication. WPA-PSK uses TKIP (Temporal Key
Integrity Protocol) data encryption and WPA2-PSK uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
data encryption. Both methods dynamically change the encryption keys making them nearly
impossible to circumvent.
Enter a word or group of printable characters in the Password Phrase box. These characters
are case sensitive.
Note: Not all wireless adapter configuration utilities support WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK.
Furthermore, client software is required on the client. Windows XP Service Pack 2 and
Windows XP Service Pack 1 with WPA patch do include the client software that supports WPA.
However, the wireless adapter hardware and driver must also support WPA.