D-Link DCS-935L - What Is WPA

51D-Link DCS-935L User Manual
Section 5 - Security
What is WPA?
WPA,orWi-FiProtectedAccess,isaWi-FistandardthatwasdesignedtoimprovethesecurityfeaturesofWEP(WiredEquivalentPrivacy).
ThetwomajorimprovementsoverWEP:
ImproveddataencryptionthroughtheTemporalKeyIntegrityProtocol(TKIP).TKIPscramblesthekeysusingahashingalgorithmand,by
addinganintegrity-checkingfeature,ensuresthatthekeyshaven’tbeentamperedwith.WPA2isbasedon802.11iandusesAdvanced
EncryptionStandardinsteadofTKIP.
Userauthentication,whichisgenerallymissinginWEP,throughtheextensibleauthenticationprotocol(EAP).WEPregulatesaccessto
awirelessnetworkbasedonacomputer’shardware-specicMACaddress,whichisrelativelysimpletobesniedoutandstolen.EAPis
built on a more secure public-key encryption system to ensure that only authorized network users can access the network.
WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSKusesapassphraseorkeytoauthenticateyourwirelessconnection.Thekeyisanalpha-numericpasswordbetween8and63
characterslong.Thepasswordcanincludesymbols(!?*&_)andspaces.Thiskeymustbetheexactsamekeyenteredonyourwirelessrouteror
access point.