Using the Belkin Wireless Networking Utility
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WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) is a new Wi-Fi standard that improves upon
the security features of WEP. To use WPA security, the drivers and software
of your wireless equipment must be upgraded to support it. These updates
will be found on your wireless vendor’s website. There are three types of
WPA security: WPA-PSK (no server), and WPA (with radius server), and WPA2.
WPA-PSK (no server) uses what is known as a pre-shared key as the
network key. A network key is a password that is between eight and
63 characters long. It can be a combination of letters, numbers, or
characters. Each client uses the same network key to access the network.
Typically, this is the mode that will be used in a home environment.
WPA (with radius server) works best in a business environment, in which
a radius server automatically distributes the network key to clients.
WPA2 requires Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for encryption of
data, which offers much greater security than WPA.
For a list of Belkin wireless products that support WPA, please visit our
website at www.belkin.com/networking.
Most Wi-Fi products ship with security turned off. So once you have your
network working, you need to activate WEP or WPA and make sure all your
wireless devices are sharing the same network key.
The following diagram shows the effect of not having the correct network key
throughout your network.
