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Hitron CGNM/ CGNM-3552 User’s Guide

5.1.5

Wireless Security

Radio is inherently an insecure medium, since it can be intercepted by anybody in the

coverage area with a radio receiver. Therefore, a variety of techniques exist to control

authentication (identifying who should be allowed to join the network) and encryption

(signal scrambling so that only authenticated users can decode the transmitted data).

The sophistication of each security method varies, as does its effectiveness. The

CGNM/ CGNM-3552 supports the following wireless security protocols (in order of

effectiveness):



WEP

(the Wired Equivalency Protocol): this protocol uses a series of “keys” or

data strings to authenticate the wireless client with the AP, and to encrypt data

sent over the wireless link. WEP is a deprecated protocol, and should only be

used when it is the only security standard supported by the wireless clients.

WEP provides only a nominal level of security, since widely-available software

exists that can break it in a matter of minutes.



WPA-PSK

(WiFi Protected Access - Pre-Shared Key): WPA was created to

solve the inadequacies of WEP. There are two types of WPA: the “enterprise”

version (known simply as WPA) requires the use of a central authentication

database server, whereas the “personal” version (supported by the CGNM/

CGNM-3552) allows users to authenticate using a “pre-shared key” or password

instead. While WPA provides good security, it is still vulnerable to “brute force”

password-guessing attempts (in which an attacker simply barrages the AP with

join requests using different passwords), so for optimal security it is advised that

you use a random password of thirteen characters or more, containing no

“dictionary” words.



WPA2-PSK

: WPA2 is an improvement on WPA. The primary difference is that

WPA uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption standard

(which has been shown to have certain possible weaknesses), whereas WPA2

uses the stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the Counter mode

with Cipher block chaining Message authentication code Protocol (CCMP),

which has received the US government’s seal of approval for communications

up to the Top Secret security level. Since WPA2-PSK uses the same pre-shared

key mechanism as WPA-PSK, the same caveat against using insecure or

simple passwords applies.

5.1.5.1

WPS

WiFi-Protected Setup (WPS) is a standardized method of allowing wireless devices

to quickly and easily join wireless networks, while maintaining a good level of

security. The CGNM/ CGNM-3552 provides two methods of WPS authentication:

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

Push-Button Configuration

(PBC)

: when the user presses the

PBC

button on

the AP (either a physical button, or a virtual button in the GUI), any user of a

wireless client that supports WPS can press the corresponding

PBC

button on

the client within two minutes to join the network.



Personal Identification Number (PIN) Configuration

: all WPS-capable

devices possess a PIN (usually to be found printed on a sticker on the device’s

housing). When you configure another device to use the same PIN, the two

devices authenticate with one another.

Once authenticated, devices that have joined a network via WPS use the WPA2

security standard.

5.1.6

WMM

WiFi MultiMedia (WMM) is a Quality of Service (QoS) enhancement that allows

prioritization of certain types of data over the wireless network. WMM provides four

data type classifications (in priority order; highest to lowest):



Voice



Video



Best effort



Background

If you wish to improve the performance of voice and video (at the expense of other,

less time-sensitive applications such as Internet browsing and FTP transfers), you

can enable WMM. You can also edit the WMM QoS parameters, but are disadvised

to do so unless you have an extremely good reason to make the changes.

5.2

The Basic Settings Screen

Use this screen to configure your CGNM/ CGNM-3552’s basic 2.4GHz and 5GHz

wireless settings. You can turn the wireless modules on or off, select the wireless

mode and channel, and configure the wireless networks’ SSID settings.

The CGNM/ CGNM-3552 has separate concurrent dual band 2.4GHz and 5GHz

wireless networks:

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Hitron CGNM/ CGNM-3552 User’s Guide



To configure the CGNM/ CGNM-3552’s 2.4GHz wireless network, click

Wireless

>

Basic Settings

, then click the

2.4G

tab. See

2.4G Settings

on page

5

for

information on the screen that displays.



To configure the CGNM/ CGNM-3552’s 5GHz wireless network, click

Wireless

>

Basic Settings

, then click the

5G

tab. See

5G Settings

on page

9

for

information on the screen that displays.

5.2.1

2.4G Settings

Use this screen to configure the CGNM/ CGNM-3552’s 2.4GHz wireless network.

Click

Wireless

>

Basic Settings

, then click the

2.4G

tab. The following screen

displays.

Figure 35:

The Wireless: Basic Settings Screen (2.4G)

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The following table describes the labels in this screen.

Table 26:

The Wireless: Basic Settings Screen (2.4G)

Basic Settings

Wireless Enabled

Use this field to turn the 2.4GHz wireless network on or

off.



Select

ON

to enable the wireless network.



Select

OFF

to disable the wireless network.

Wireless Mode

Select the type of 2.4GHz wireless network that you

want to use:



802.11 B/G Mixed

: use IEEE 802.11b and 802.11n



802.11 11N Only

: use IEEE 802.11n



802.11 B/G/N Mixed

: use IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g

and 802.11n



802.11 G/N Mixed

: use IEEE 802.11g and 802.11n

NOTE:

Only wireless clients that support the network

protocol you select can connect to the wireless

network. If in doubt, use

11B/G/N

(default).

Wireless Channel

Select the 2.4GHz wireless channel that you want to

use, or select

Auto

to have the CGNM/ CGNM-3552

select the optimum channel to use.

NOTE:

Use the

Auto

setting unless you have a specific

reason to do otherwise.

WPS Enabled

Use this field to turn Wifi Protected Setup (WPS) on or

off on the 2.4GHz network.



Select

ON

to enable WPS.



Deselect

OFF

to disable WPS.

Multiple SSID Settings

Primary SSID

Click this to view settings for the main 2.4GHz SSID.

Network Name (SSID)

Enter the name that you want to use for this SSID. This

is the name that identifies your network, and to which

wireless clients connect.

NOTE:

It is suggested that you change the SSID from

its default, for security reasons.

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Enable

Use this field to enable or disable the SSID.



Select

ON

to enable the SSID.



Deselect

OFF

to disable the SSID.

Broadcast SSID

Use this field to make this SSID visible or invisible to

other wireless devices.



Select

ON

if you want your network name (SSID) to

be public. Anyone with a wireless device in the

coverage area can discover the SSID, and attempt

to connect to the network.



Select

OFF

if you do not want the CGNM/ CGNM-

3552 to broadcast the network name (SSID) to all

wireless devices in the coverage area. Anyone

who wants to connect to the network must know

the SSID.

WMM (QoS)

Use this field to apply WiFi MultiMedia (WMM) Quality of

Service (QoS) settings to this SSID.



Select

ON

to enable WMM QoS on this SSID.



Select

OFF

to disable WMM QoS on this SSID.

Table 26:

The Wireless: Basic Settings Screen (2.4G) (continued)