Interface Commands
6-89multicast-cipher This command defines the cipher algorithm used for broadcasting
and multicasting when using Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
security.
Syntax
multicast-cipher <AES | TKIP | WEP>
•AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
•TKIP - Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
•WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy
Default Setting
WEP
Command Mode
Interface Configuration (Wireless)
Command Usage
• WPA enables the access point to support different unicast
encryption keys for each client. However, the global
encryption key for multicast and broadcast traffic must be
the same for all clients. This command sets the encryption
type that is supported by all clients.
• If any clients supported by the access point are not WPA
enabled, the multicast-cipher algorithm must be set to WEP.
• WEP is the first generation security protocol used to encrypt
data crossing the wireless medium using a fairly short key.
Communicating devices must use the same WEP key to
encrypt and decrypt radio signals. WEP has many security
flaws, and is not recommended for transmitting highly
sensitive data.
• TKIP provides data encryption enhancements including
per-packet key hashing (i.e., changing the encryption key
on each packet), a message integrity check, an extended
initialization vector with sequencing rules, and a re-keying
mechanism.