User Manual

WaveLAN Security Options
Introduction
WaveLAN IEEE 802.11 PC Card User’s Guide 6-5
■ Silver cards support the IEEE compliant "Wired Equivalent
Privacy (WEP) data encryption, based upon the 64 bit RC4
encryption algorithm.
■ Gold cards support an enhanced type of data encryption,
based upon the 128 bit RC4 algorithm.
When enabling encryption, the WaveLAN interface of your wireless
stations and/or WavePOINT-II Access Points, will encrypt all data
that will be transmitted via the wireless intrerface.
■ The encryption feature allows you to define up to four
encryption keys to decypher messages received via the
wireless interface.
■ You can select one of these four keys to encrypt the wireless
data tranmissions.
If you plan to use data encryption within your network, all stations
and access points must be:
■ Equipped with a WaveLAN PC Card that supports encryption.
■ Configured with a matchinng set of encryption keys.
The option to specify up to four decryption keys allows you to
refresh the key values at regular intervals (for example starting
at the access points) without the necessity to update all station
at the same time.
For information about setting encryption key parameters, please
consult the section “WaveLAN Encryption Parameters” on page
3-18 as described in Chapter 3.
NOTE:
Early models of the WaveLAN/IEEE Silver PC Cards,
(typically shipped prior to July 1999), may need an update
of the card firmware to v4.08 or higher, to enable the
encryption feature. This update for Silver Cards, is
managed via a dedicated "
WaveLAN Station Update " tool
(WSU version 4.08 or higher) that can be downloaded
from the WaveLAN website.