Netgear HA311 User's Guide download pdf (Page 36)

Authentication and WEP Encryption

The absence of a physical connection between nodes makes the wireless links

vulnerable to information theft. To provide a certain level of security, IEEE

802.11 standard has defined two types of authentication methods, Open System

and Shared Key. Open System authentication is a null algorithm. Shared Key

authentication is an algorithm where both the transmitting node and the

receiving node share an authentication key to perform a checksum on the

original message. By default, IEEE 802.11 wireless devices operate in an open

system network.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption is utilized when the wireless

nodes or access points are configured to operate in Shared Key authentication

mode. There are three shared key methods implemented in Netgear’s 802.11a

solutions: the standard based forty-bit WEP data encryption and 128-bit WEP

data encryption plus the extended 152-bit WEP data encryption.

The forty-bit WEP data encryption method allows for a five-character (forty-bit)

input. Additionally, 24 factory-set bits are added to the forty-bit input to

generate a 64-bit encryption key. (The 24 factory-set bits are not user

configurable.) This encryption key will be used to encrypt/decrypt all data

transmitted via the wireless interface. Some vendors may refer to the forty-bit

WEP data encryption as 64-bit WEP data encryption since the actual encryption

key used in the encryption process is 64 bits wide.

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Netgear HA311 User's Guide Page 36