User's Manual

Reference Manual for the Model FWAG114 Cable/DSL Wireless ProSafe Firewall
3-6 Wireless Configuration
Understanding WEP Authentication and Encryption
Restricting wireless access to your network prevents intruders from connecting to your network.
However, the wireless data transmissions are still vulnerable to snooping. Using the WEB data
encryption settings described below will prevent a determined intruder from eavesdropping on
your wireless data communications. Also, if you are using the Internet for such activities as
purchases or banking, those Internet sites use another level of highly secure encryption called SSL.
You can tell if a web site is using SSL because the web address begins with HTTPS rather than
HTTP.
Authentication Scheme Selection
The FWAG114 lets you select the following wireless authentication schemes.
• Automatic.
• Open System.
• Shared key.
Be sure to set your wireless adapter according to the authentication scheme you choose for the
FWAG114 wireless firewall. Please refer to
“Authentication and WEP Data Encryption” on page
D-3
for a full explanation of each of these options, as defined by the IEEE 802.11 wireless
communication standard.
Encryption Strength Choices
Choose the encryption strength from the drop-down list. Please refer to
“Overview of WEP
Parameters” on page D-5
for a full explanation of each of these options, as defined by the IEEE
802.11 wireless communication standard.
• Disable. No encryption will be applied. This setting is useful for troubleshooting your wireless
connection, but leaves your wireless data fully exposed.
• 64-bit, 128-bit, or in the case of 802.11a, 152-bit WEP. When 64-, 128-, or 152-Bit WEP is
selected, WEP encryption will be applied.
Note: The authentication scheme is separate from the data encryption. You can
choose an authentication scheme which requires a shared key but still leave the
data transmissions unencrypted. If you require strong security, use both the
Shared Key and WEP encryption settings.