Overview 1-21
1.2.5 Security Features
Switch security can be classified into wireless security and wired security.
The switch includes the following wireless security features:
• Encryption and Authentication
• MU Authentication
• Secure Beacon
• MU to MU Disallow
• 802.1x Authentication
• WIPS
• Rogue AP Detection
The switch includes the following wired security features:
• ACLs
• Local Radius Server
• IPSec VPN
• NAT
• Certificate Management
1.2.5.1 Encryption and Authentication
The switch can implement the following encryption and authentication types:
• WEP
• WPA
• WPA2
• Keyguard-WEP
WEP
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is an encryption scheme used to secure wireless networks. WEP was
intended to provide comparable confidentiality to a traditional wired network, hence the name. WEP had
many serious weaknesses and hence was superseded by Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). Regardless, WEP
still provides a level of security that can deter casual snooping. For more information on configuring WEP for
a target WLAN, see Configuring WEP 64 on page 4-54 or Configuring WEP 128 / KeyGuard on page 4-55.
WEP uses passwords entered manually at both ends (Pre Shared Keys). Using the RC4 encryption algorithm,
WEP originally specified a 40-bit key, but was later boosted to 104 bits. Combined with a 24-bit initialization
vector, WEP is often touted as having a 128-bit key.