User manual

MWGAR/MWGARB User Manual

Version: 2.0

viewed as insufficient for securing confidential business communications. A

longer-term solution, the IEEE 802.11i standard, is under development. However,

since the IEEE 802.11i standard is not expected to be published until the end of

2003, several members of the WI-Fi Alliance teamed up with members of the

IEEE 802.11i task group to develop a significant near-term enhancement to

Wi-Fi security. Together, this team developed Wi-Fi Protected Access.

To upgrade a WLAN network to support WPA, Access Points will require a WPA

software upgrade. Clients will require a software upgrade for the network

interface card, and possibly a software update for the operating system. For

enterprise networks, an authentication server, typically one that supports

RADIUS and the selected EAP authentication protocol, will be added to the

network.

4.16 What is WPA2?

It is the second generation of WPA. WPA2 is based on the final IEEE 802.11i

amendment to the 802.11 standard.

4.17 What is 802.1x Authentication?

802.1x is a framework for authenticated MAC-level access control, defines

Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LANs (WAPOL). The standard

encapsulates and leverages much of EAP, which was defined for dial-up

authentication with Point-to-Point Protocol in RFC 2284.

Beyond encapsulating EAP packets, the 802.1x standard also defines EAPOL

messages that convey the shared key information critical for wireless security.

4.18 What is Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)?

The Temporal Key Integrity Protocol, pronounced tee-kip, is part of the IEEE

802.11i encryption standard for wireless LANs. TKIP is the next generation of

WEP, the Wired Equivalency Protocol, which is used to secure 802.11 wireless

LANs. TKIP provides per-packet key mixing, a message integrity check and a

re-keying mechanism, thus fixing the flaws of WEP.

4.19 What is Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)?

Security issues are a major concern for wireless LANs, AES is the U.S.

government’s next-generation cryptography algorithm, which will replace DES