Encryption Support

Wireless LAN System offers CCMP-AES for WPA2. WPA2 uses CCMP/AES as encryption method. Descriptions of these technologies are provided in this section. Fortinet also supports the original 802.11encryption protocols provided by WEP64 and WEP128.

We recommend using the more secure CCMP-AES encryption solution if your site’s client hardware cannot support CCMP.

CCMP-AES

AES is the Advanced Encryption Standard and is used by the US Department of Defence as a replacement for older encryption standards. As such, it is very secure. AES can be used in several modes, and CCMP is the mode used by WPA2. Both terms are commonly used interchangeably.

WEP Security Features

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP64 and WEP128) is a Layer 2 security protocol specified in the IEEE Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard, 802.11. WEP is designed to provide a wireless LAN with comparable level of security and privacy to what is usually expected of a wired LAN. A wired LAN is generally protected by physical security mechanisms, such as controlled access to a building, that are effective for a controlled physical environment. However, such security

Encryption Support

mechanisms do not apply to WLANs because the walls containing the network do not necessarily bind radio waves. WEP seeks to establish protection similar to that offered by the wired network’s physical security measures by encrypting data transmitted over the WLAN. Data encryption protects the vulnerable wireless link between clients and access points. Once this measure has been taken, other typical LAN security mechanisms such as authentication, password protection, and end-to-end encryption, can be put in place to protect privacy.

With the WEP protocol, all access points and client radio NICs on a particular wireless LAN must use the same encryption key. Each sending station encrypts the body of each frame with a WEP key before transmission, and the receiving station decrypts it using an identical key. This process reduces the risk of someone passively monitoring the transmission and gaining access to the information contained within the frames.

The WEP implementation allows the Security Profile configuration to specify one of four possible WEP keys that can be configured by a user station key management program.