User's Manual

Chapter 5 Wireless
B222s User’s Guide
59
A good way t o com e up with effective securit y keys, passwords and so on is t o use obscur e
inform ation that you personally will easily rem em ber, and t o ent er it in a way t hat appears random
and does not include real words. For exam ple, if your m ot her owns a 1970 Dodge Challenger and
her favorite m ovie is Vanishing Point ( which you know was m ade in 1971) you could use
“ 70dodchal71vanpoi” as your security key.
The following sections int roduce different types of w ireless securit y you can set up in t he wireless
network.
5.7.2.1 SSID
Norm ally, t he LTE Device acts like a beacon and regularly broadcast s the SSI D in the area. You can
hide t he SSI D instead, in which case t he LTE Device does not broadcast t he SSI D. I n addit ion, you
should change t he default SSI D t o som et hing that is difficult t o guess.
This t ype of securit y is fairly weak, however, because there are ways for unauthorized wireless
devices t o get the SSI D. I n addit ion, unauthorized w ireless devices can st ill see t he inform ation t hat
is sent in t he wireless net work.
5.7.2.2 MAC Address Filter
Every device t hat can use a wireless net w ork has a unique ident ificat ion num ber, called a MAC
address.
1
A MAC addr ess is usually writt en using twelve hexadecim al characters
2
; for exam ple,
00A0C5000002 or 00: A0: C5: 00: 00: 02. To get t he MAC addr ess for each device in t he wireless
network, see the device’s User’s Guide or ot her docum ent at ion.
You can use t he MAC address filt er to t ell the LTE Device which devices are allowed or not allowed
to use t he wireless net work. I f a device is allowed t o use t he wireless net work, it still has t o have
the correct inform ation ( SSI D, channel, and securit y) . I f a device is not allowed t o use t he wireless
network, it does not m att er if it has t he correct inform ation.
This t ype of securit y does not protect t he inform ation t hat is sent in t he wireless net work.
Furt herm ore, t here are ways for unauthorized wireless devices t o get t he MAC address of an
authorized device. Then, they can use t hat MAC address to use t he wireless net work.
5.7.2.3 User Authentication
Aut hent icat ion is t he process of verifying whet her a wireless device is allowed to use t he wireless
networ k. You can m ake every user log in t o t he wireless net work before using it . However, every
device in the wireless net work has t o support I EEE 802.1x to do this.
For wireless net works, you can store the user nam es and passwords for each user in a RADI US
server. This is a server used in businesses m ore t han in hom es. I f you do not have a RADI US server,
you cannot set up user nam es and passwords for your users.
Unaut horized wireless devices can still see t he inform ation t hat is sent in t he wireless net w ork,
even if they cannot use the wireless net work. Furt herm ore, t here are ways for unaut horized
wireless user s t o get a valid user nam e and password. Then, t hey can use that user nam e and
passw ord to use t he wireless network.
1. Some wireless devices, such as scanners, can detect wireless networks but cannot use wireless networks. These kinds
of wireless devices might not have MAC addresses.
2. Hexadecimal characters are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F.