802.11g HomePlug AV ADSL2+ Gateway User's Guide

Table Of Contents

Chapter 8 Powerline

P-660HWP-Dx User’s Guide

In this User’s Guide the electrical wiring network may be referred to as the “powerline

network”.

8.2 Privacy and Powerline Adapters

When the P-660HWP-Dx 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 128-bit AES (Advanced

Encryption Standard) to safely transmit data between powerline adapters.

For the P-660HWP-Dx 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 password you assign to the

P-660HWP-Dx and

powerline adapters. By default all HomePlug AV powerline adapters are configured with the

network password HomePlugAV. This allows all HomePlug AV powerline adapters and the

P-660HWP-Dx 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.

8.2.1 Setting 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. The P-660HWP-Dx and powerline adapters

convert the network password to a Network Membership Key (NMK). Only the powerline

adapters with the same NMK can communicate in your network.

The following figure shows a scenario A - where all the powerline adapters have the same

NMK (NMK1) and scenario B - where some adapters use NMK1 and some use NMK2.

Figure 79 Powerline Network Scenario

NMK1

NMK2