Wireless security, What is wpa, Wireless.security – D-Link DIR-825 User Manual

Page 75

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D-Lnk DIR-825 User Manual

Secton  - Securty

Wireless Security

This section will show you the different levels of security you can use to protect your data from intruders. The

DIR-825 offers the following types of security:

• WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2)

• WPA2-PSK (Pre-Shared Key)

• WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

• WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key)

What is WPA?

WPA, or Wi-Fi Protected Access, is a Wi-Fi standard that was designed to improve the security features of WEP (Wired

Equivalent Privacy).

The 2 major improvements over WEP:

• Improved data encryption through the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP). TKIP scrambles the keys

using a hashing algorithm and, by adding an integrity-checking feature, ensures that the keys haven’t

been tampered with. WPA2 is based on 802.11i and uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) instead

of TKIP.

• User authentication, which is generally missing in WEP, through the extensible authentication protocol

(EAP). WEP regulates access to a wireless network based on a computer’s hardware-specific MAC

address, which is relatively simple to be sniffed out and stolen. EAP is built on a more secure public-key

encryption system to ensure that only authorized network users can access the network.

WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK uses a passphrase or key to authenticate your wireless connection. The key is an alpha-numeric

password between 8 and 63 characters long. The password can include symbols (!?*&_) and spaces. This key must

be the exact same key entered on your wireless router or access point.

WPA/WPA2 incorporates user authentication through the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). EAP is built on a

more secure public key encryption system to ensure that only authorized network users can access the network.

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