Authentication and encryption

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 printer supports the following methods:

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Open system

Wireless devices are allowed to access the network without any authentication.

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Shared key

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.

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WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK

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).

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LEAP

Cisco LEAP (Light Extensible Authentication Protocol) has been developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. which uses a user ID and password for authentication.

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EAP-FAST

EAP-FAST (Extensible Authentication Protocol-Flexible Authentication via Secured Tunnel) has been developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. which uses a user ID and password for authentication, and symmetric key algorithms to achieve a tunneled authentication process.

The Brother machine supports the following inner authentications:

•	EAP-FAST/NONE EAP-FAST authentication for CCXv3 networks. Does not use an inner authentication method.
•	EAP-FAST/MS-CHAPv2 EAP-FAST authentication for CCXv4 networks. Uses MS-CHAPv2 for the inner authentication method.
•	EAP-FAST/GTC EAP-FAST authentication for CCXv4 networks. Uses GTC for the inner authentication method.

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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.
•	WEP By using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the data is transmitted and received with a secure key.
•	TKIP TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) provides per-packet key mixing a message integrity check and rekeying mechanism.
•	AES AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is the Wi-Fi^® authorized strong encryption standard.
•	CKIP The original Key Integrity Protocol for LEAP by Cisco Systems, Inc.

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Network key

There are some rules for each security method:

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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.

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LEAP

Uses User ID and Password.

•	User ID: less than 64 characters in length.
•	Password: less than 32 characters in length.

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EAP-FAST

Uses User ID and Password.

•	User ID: less than 64 characters in length.
•	Password: less than 32 characters in length.

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