User's Manual

Chapter 6 | Wireless Settings
Virtual Access Points (VAPs)
– 81 –
Wired Equivalent
Privacy (WEP)
WEP provides a basic level of security, preventing unauthorized access to the
network, and encrypting data transmitted between wireless clients and the VAP.
WEP uses static shared keys (fixed-length hexadecimal or alphanumeric strings)
that are manually distributed to all clients that want to use the network.
WEP is the security protocol initially specified in the IEEE 802.11 standard for
wireless communications. Unfortunately, WEP has been found to be seriously
flawed and cannot be recommended for a high level of network security. For more
robust wireless security, the access point provides Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
and WPA2 for improved data encryption and user authentication.
Setting up shared keys enables the basic IEEE 802.11 Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) on the access point to prevent unauthorized access to the network.
If you choose to use WEP shared keys instead of an open system, be sure to define
at least one static WEP key for user authentication and data encryption. Also, be
sure that the WEP shared keys are the same for each client in the wireless network.
All clients share the same keys, which are used for user authentication and data
encryption. Up to four keys can be specified.
Figure 41: WEP Configuration
The following items are on this page for WEP configuration:
◆ Default WEP Key Index – Selects the key number to use for encryption for the
VAP interface. If the clients have all four WEP keys configured to the same
values, you can change the encryption key to any of the settings without
having to update the client keys.
(Default: Key 1)