unlike wired network data, your wireless data transmissions can extend beyond your walls and can be received by anyone with a compatible adapter. for this reason, use the security features of your wireless equipment. the fwg114p wireless firewall/print server provides highly effective security features which are covered in detail in this chapter.
there are several ways you can enhance the security of you wireless network:
1 restrict access based on mac address. you can allow only trusted pcs to connect so that unknown pcs cannot wirelessly connect to the fwg114p. restricting access by mac address adds an obstacle against unwanted access to your network, but the data broadcast over the wireless link is fully exposed.
2 turn off the broadcast of the wireless network name ssid. if you disable broadcast of the ssid, only devices that have the correct ssid can connect. this nullifies the wireless network ‘discovery’?feature of some products such as windows xp, but the data is still fully exposed.
3 wep. wired equivalent privacy (wep) data encryption provides data security. wep shared key authentication and wep data encryption will block all but the most determined eavesdropper.
4 wpa or wpa-psk. wi-fi protected access (wpa) data encryption provides data security. the very strong authentication along with dynamic per frame rekeying of wpa make it virtually impossible to compromise. because this is a new standard, wireless device driver and software availability may be limited.