User's Manual

3
Using a secure wireless network
A wireless network offers you the freedom to roam without the burden of cables but it also means
that your data is accessible to anyone else in range of your wireless grid. If you are concerned
about a aneighbor or someone within range of your wireless network using your wireless connec-
tion for malicious activity, we strongly recommend that you enable wireless security to prevent
unauthorized connection or someone from eavesdropping to listen in on your network traffic.
Today, many wireless routers provide several mechanisms for securing a wireless network and it
is recommended that you first enable security on your wireless router and then match the method
you have selected on your clients.
U.S. Robotics recommends any one or a combination of the following three methods:
MAC Address filtering
Many wireless routers provide a mechanism for creating a list of devices that can participate in
your wireless network. Refer to your wireless router’s documentation to learn if MAC Address fil-
tering is supported and how to enable it. You will need to
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
Your 5430 supports 64-bit and 128-bit WEP security. If available on your wireless router, we rec-
ommend you enable the higher bit security. When you enable WEP, it uses a key generated by the
wireless device to hid (encrypt) the data and this specifically formatted data can only be under-
stood by another wireless device that knows of this key. Since both ends use the same key, any
users who do not know the key cannot connect to your network and use your Internet connection.
Enabling security on your 5430
I want to enable WEP.
After you have obtained your network name (SSID configured on your wireless router and its
security settings, you can use the Security menu located on the Web User Interface pages to pro-
gram your 5430 for WEP or WPA security.
Your 5430 provides both WPA and WEP security features (refer to the What is the difference
between WPA and WEP? section in this User Guide for additional information).
When Network Authentication is Disabled (No WPA), you need to make a choice whether to leave
Data Encryption Off (No security) or select WEP (The network key you enter will determine which
strength encryption to use: 64- or 128-bit).
R24.0451.00 5430 English Install.fm Page 3 Wednesday, February 4, 2004 5:20 PM