Chapter 6 HomePlug AV
2Then plug your ZyXEL Device into a power outlet.
The ZyXEL Device is ready for connection on a powerline network.
3Connect another HomePlug AV compatible adapter to a computer and then plug it in on the same home or office wiring.
After configuring the settings on all adapters (see Section 6.3 on page 74) your computer can now connect to the powerline network and to the Internet. Your powerline network can be further expanded by plugging additional powerline adapters into other outlets in your home and connecting other computers or network devices (for example, a printer) to them.
In this User’s Guide the electrical wiring network may be referred to as the “powerline network”.
6.2 Privacy and Powerline Adapters
When the ZyXEL Device communicates with each other HomePlug AV compliant powerline adapters, they use encryption to scramble the information that is sent in the powerline network. Encryption is like a secret code. If you do not know the secret code, you cannot understand the message. The HomePlug AV standard uses
For the ZyXEL Device and powerline adapters to communicate with each other they all need to use the same Network Membership Key (NMK). Otherwise, they cannot unscramble the encrypted data sent in the powerline network.
The NMK is derived from the network name (password) you assign to the ZyXEL Device and powerline adapters. By default all HomePlug powerline adapters are configured with the network password HomePlugAV. This allows all HomePlug powerline adapters and the ZyXEL Device to communicate with each other without any software configuration. This also means that if you don’t change the network password, any HomePlug AV powerline adapter connected to your powerline circuit can see your network data.
"Change the network password on your powerline adapters to ensure secure data transmission on your powerline network.
6.2.1Setting Up a Private Powerline Network
To prevent others compromising your network security, you can create a private network. Create a private network by changing the network password only on the powerline adapters you want to communicate in your network. Only the powerline adapters with the same network password can communicate in your network.
The following figure shows a scenario A - where all the powerline adapters have the same network password (1) and scenario B - where some adapters use password 1 and some use password 2.
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