All contents copyright (c) 2011 ZyXEL Communications Corporation.
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ESSID stands for Extended Service Set Identifier and identifies the wireless LAN. The
ESSID of the mobile device must match the ESSID of the AP to communicate with the
AP. The ESSID is a 32-character maximum string and is case-sensitive.
How do I secure the data across an Access Point's radio
link?
Enable Wired Equivalency Protocol (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to encrypt
the payload of packets sent across a radio link.
What is WEP?
Wired Equivalent Privacy. WEP is a security mechanism defined within the 802.11
standard and designed to make the security of the wireless medium equal to that of
a cable (wire). WEP data encryption was designed to prevent access to the network
by "intruders" and to prevent the capture of wireless LAN traffic through
eavesdropping. WEP allows the administrator to define a set of respective "Keys" for
each wireless network user based on a "Key String" passed through the WEP
encryption algorithm. Access is denied by anyone who does not have an assigned key.
WEP comes in 40/64-bit and 128-bit encryption key lengths. Note, WEP has shown to
have fundamental flaws in its key generation processing.
What is the difference between 40-bit and 64-bit WEP?
40 bit WEP & 64 bit WEP are the same encryption level and can interoperate. The
lower level of WEP encryption uses a 40 bit (10 Hex character) as "secret key" (set by
user), and a 24 bit "Initialization Vector" (not under user control) (40+24=64). Some
vendors refer to this level of WEP as 40 bit, others as 64 bit.
