Most wireless networks use some kind of security settings. These security settings define the authentication (how the device identifies itself to the network) and encryption (how the data is encrypted as it is sent on the network). If you do not correctly specify these options when you are configuring your Brother wireless device, it will not be able to connect to the wireless network. Therefore care must be taken when configuring these options. Please refer to the information below to see which authentication and encryption methods your Brother wireless device supports.
Authentication methods
The Brother machine supports the following methods:
| • | Wireless devices are allowed to access the network without any authentication. |
| • | A secret pre-determined key is shared by all devices that will access the wireless network.
The Brother wireless machine uses the WEP keys as the pre-determined key. |
| • | Enables a Wi-Fi Protected Access™ Pre-shared key (WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK), which enables the Brother wireless machine to associate with access points using TKIP for WPA-PSK or AES for WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK (WPA-Personal). |
Encryption methods
Encryption is used to secure the data that is sent over the wireless network. The Brother wireless machine supports the following encryption methods:
| • | None No encryption method is used. |
| • | By using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the data is transmitted and received with a secure key. |
| • | TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) provides per-packet key mixing a message integrity check and re-keying mechanism. |
| • | AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is the Wi-Fi® authorized strong encryption standard. |
Network Key
There are some rules for each security method:
| • | Open System/Shared Key with WEP This key is a 64-bit or 128-bit value that must be entered in an ASCII or hexadecimal format. | • | 64 (40) bit ASCII: Uses 5 text characters e.g. “WSLAN” (this is case sensitive). |
| • | 64 (40) bit hexadecimal: Uses 10 digits of hexadecimal data e.g. “71f2234aba”. |
| • | 128 (104) bit ASCII: Uses 13 text characters e.g. “Wirelesscomms” (this is case sensitive). |
| • | 128 (104) bit hexadecimal: Uses 26 digits of hexadecimal data e.g. “71f2234ab56cd709e5412aa2ba”. |
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| • | WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK and TKIP or AES Uses a Pre-Shared Key (PSK) that is 8 or more characters in length, up to a maximum of 63 characters. |
