ZyXEL Communications HS100/HS100W manual Introduction to WPA, User Authentication, Encryption

HomeSafe User’s Guide

	Table 7-3 WLAN : Wireless : Static WEP Encryption
LABEL	DESCRIPTION
Key 1 to Key	The WEP keys are used to encrypt data. Both the HomeSafe and the wireless stations
4	must use the same WEP key for data transmission.
	If you chose 64-bit WEP, then enter any 5 ASCII characters or 10 hexadecimal
	characters ("0-9", "A-F").
	If you chose 128-bit WEP, then enter 13 ASCII characters or 26 hexadecimal
	characters ("0-9", "A-F").
	You must configure all four keys, but only one key can be activated at any one time.
	The default key is key 1.
Preamble	Select a preamble type from the drop-down list menu. Choices are Long, Short and
	Dynamic. The default setting is Dynamic.
	See the section on preamble for more information.
802.11 Mode	Select 802.11b Only to allow only IEEE 802.11b compliant WLAN devices to associate
	with the HomeSafe.
	Select 802.11g Only to allow only IEEE 802.11g compliant WLAN devices to associate
	with the HomeSafe.
	Select Mixed to allow either IEEE802.11b or IEEE802.11g compliant WLAN devices to
	associate with the HomeSafe. The transmission rate of your HomeSafe might be
	reduced.
Max. Frame	Enable Maximum Frame Burst to help eliminate collisions in mixed-mode networks
Burst	(networks with both IEEE 802.11g and IEEE 802.11b traffic) and enhance the
	performance of both pure IEEE 802.11g and mixed IEEE 802.11b/g networks.
	Maximum Frame Burst sets the maximum time, in microseconds, that the HomeSafe
	transmits IEEE 802.11g wireless traffic only.
	Type the maximum frame burst between 0 and 1800 (650, 1000 or 1800
	recommended). Enter 0 to disable this feature. The default is 650.
Apply	Click Apply to save your changes back to the HomeSafe.
Reset	Click Reset to reload the previous configuration for this screen.

7.5Introduction to WPA

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i security specification draft. Key differences between WPA and WEP are user authentication and improved data encryption.

7.5.1 User Authentication

WPA applies IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to authenticate wireless clients using an external RADIUS database. You can’t use the HomeSafe’s Local User Database for WPA authentication purposes since the Local User Database uses EAP MD5, which cannot be used to generate keys. See later in this chapter and the appendices for more information on IEEE 802.1x, RADIUS and EAP.

Therefore, if you don’t have an external RADIUS server you should use WPA-PSK (WPA -Pre- Shared Key) that only requires a single (identical) password entered into each access point, wireless gateway and wireless client. As long as the passwords match, a client will be granted access to a WLAN.

7.5.2 Encryption

WPA improves data encryption by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), Message Integrity Check (MIC) and IEEE 802.1x.

7-6 Wireless Security