Wireless Security

    With a wireless network, your information is traveling through the airwaves, not physical wires, so anyone within range can "listen in" on your network. Below are some of the encryption standards used in wireless networks.

     

      Advantages Disadvantages
    No Encryption Easy to connect No Security
    Vulnerable to security hacks
    WEP (Wireless Equvalency Privacy) Available on all wireless network adapters
    Provides basic security through a single password    		 Speed
    WPA (Wifi Protected-Access) Highest level of security using dynamic key encryption.
    Uses TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) for encryption of data    		 Not supported in older wireless network cards.
    WPA2 (Wifi Protected-Access) Second generation of WPA.
    Backwards compatible with WPA.
    Uses AES (Advanced Encrypted Standard) for encryption of data.    		 Not supported in older wireless network cards.

    Wireless Standards

    There are 4 types of wireless standards.

      Speed Frequency Range Notes
    Wireless ? A (802.11a) 54Mbps 5.4GHz 75 feet Not backwards compatible with 802.11b / 802.11g / 802.11n. Less interference.
    Wireless ? B (802.11b) 11Mbps 2.4GHz 75 feet Most popular standard.
    Wireless ? G (802.11g) 54Mbps 2.4GHz 75 feet Backwards compatible with 802.11b. Most routers support available.
    Wireless ? N (802.11n) 300Mbps 5.4GHz 150 feet Backwards compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g. Latest industry standard.