User`s manual

P-660 Series Support Notes

125

4. Setup WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

• Introduction

• Setting up the Access Point

• Setting up the Station

Introduction

The 802.11 standard describes the communication that occurs in wireless LANs.

The Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm is used to protect wireless

communication from eavesdropping, because wireless transmissions are easier to

intercept than transmissions over wired networks, and wireless is a shared medium,

everything that is transmitted or received over a wireless network can be intercepted.

WEP relies on a secret key that is shared between a mobile station (e.g. a laptop with

a wireless Ethernet card) and an access point (i.e. a base station). The secret key is

used to encrypt packets before they are transmitted, and an integrity check is used to

ensure that packages are not modified during the transition. The standard does not

discuss how the shared key is established. In practice, most installations use a single

key that is shared between all mobile stations and access points APs.