Allied Telesis AT-WA7400/NA - Manual (Page 108)

Chapter 10: Configuring Security
108
Key for data encryption, as described in Table 1.
Static WEP was designed to provide security equivalent of sending
unencrypted data through an Ethernet connection. However it contains
major flaws and it does not provide even this intended level of security.
Therefore, Static WEP is not recommended as a security mode. The
only time to use Static WEP is when interoperability issues make it the
only option available to you and you are not concerned with the potential
of exposing the data on your network.
For information on how to configure Static WEP security mode, see “Static
WEP” on page 116.
When to Use IEEE 802.1x
IEEE 802.1x is the standard for passing the Extensible Authentication
Protocol ( EAP ) over an 802.11 wireless network using a protocol called
EAP Encapsulation Over LANs (EAPOL). This is a newer, more secure
standard than Static WEP, as described in Table 2.
Table 1. Static WEP Configuration
Key Management Encryption Algorithm User Authentication
Static WEP uses a fixed
key that is provided by the
administrator. WEP keys
are indexed in different
slots (up to four on the
AT-WA7400 Wireless
Access Point).
The client stations must
have the same key
indexed in the same slot to
access data on the access
point.
An RC4 stream cipher is
used to encrypt the frame
body and cyclic
redundancy checking
(CRC) of each 802.11
frame.
If you set the
Authentication Algorithm to
Shared Key, this protocol
provides a rudimentary
form of user
authentication.
However, if the
Authentication Algorithm is
set to Open System, no
authentication is
performed.
If the algorithm is set to
Both, only WEP clients are
authenticated.