Chapter 7 Wireless LAN

The types of encryption you can choose depend on the type of authentication. (See Section 7.9.3.3 on page 97 for information about this.)

Table 27 Types of Encryption for Each Type of Authentication

NO AUTHENTICATION RADIUS SERVER

Weakest

No Security

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Static WEP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WPA-PSK

WPA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stronges

WPA2-PSK

WPA2

t

 

 

For example, if the wireless network has a RADIUS server, you can choose WPA or WPA2. If users do not log in to the wireless network, you can choose no encryption, Static WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK.

Usually, you should set up the strongest encryption that every device in the wireless network supports. For example, suppose you have a wireless network with the ZyXEL Device and you do not have a RADIUS server. Therefore, there is no authentication. Suppose the wireless network has two devices. Device A only supports WEP, and device B supports WEP and WPA. Therefore, you should set up Static WEP in the wireless network.

Note: It is recommended that wireless networks use WPA-PSK, WPA, or stronger encryption. The other types of encryption are better than none at all, but it is still possible for unauthorized wireless devices to figure out the original information pretty quickly.

When you select WPA2 or WPA2-PSKin your ZyXEL Device, you can also select an option (WPA compatible) to support WPA as well. In this case, if some of the devices support WPA and some support WPA2, you should set up WPA2-PSKor WPA2 (depending on the type of wireless network login) and select the WPA compatible option in the ZyXEL Device.

Many types of encryption use a key to protect the information in the wireless network. The longer the key, the stronger the encryption. Every device in the wireless network must have the same key.

7.9.4 WiFi Protected Setup

Your ZyXEL Device supports WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), which is an easy way to set up a secure wireless network. WPS is an industry standard specification, defined by the WiFi Alliance.

WPS allows you to quickly set up a wireless network with strong security, without having to configure security settings manually. Each WPS connection works

98

 

P-870HW-51a v2 User’s Guide