User's Manual

USER GUIDE
Odyssey: An 802.1X security and access control application for wireless LANs (WLANs),
developed by Funk Software, Inc.
OFDM: orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. A technique that splits a wide frequency
band into a number of narrow frequency bands and sends data across the sub-channels. The
802.11a and 802.11g standards are based on OFDM.
open system authentication: The IEEE 802.11 default authentication method. The device
sends an authentication management frame containing the sender’s identify in the clear to the
authenticating device which sends back a clear frame alerting whether it recognizes the identity
of the requesting device.
PAN: personal area network. A personal area network is used to interconnect devices used by
an individual or in their immediate proximity, including devices they are carrying with them and
devices that are simply nearby. According to the IEEE, PANs “shall be capable of supporting
segments at least 10 meters in length.”
PAP: password authentication protocol. One of two authentication methods that is part of PPP
(CHAP is the other). PAP is a method for a device to authenticate itself with a two-way
handshake. Note that PAP sends its authentication information in the clear; that is, not
encrypted. PAP is defined in RFC 1334.
PCI devices: Devices that adhere to the Peripheral Component Interconnect/Interface.
PEAP: protected extensible authentication protocol. An extension to the Extensible
Authentication Protocol with Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS), developed by Microsoft
Corporation. TLS is used in PEAP Part 1 to authenticate the server only, and thus avoids having
to distribute user certificates to every client. PEAP Part 2 performs mutual authentication
between the EAP client and the server.
PKCS: public-key cryptography standards. A group of specifications produced by RSA and
secure systems developers, and first published in 1991. Among many other features and
functions, the standards define syntax for digital certificates, certificate signing requests and key
exchanges.
PKI: public-key infrastructure. Software that enables users of an insecure public network such
as the Internet to exchange information securely and privately. The PKI uses public-key
cryptography (also known as asymmetric cryptography) to authenticate the message sender and
encrypt the message by means of a pair of cryptographic keys, one public and one private. A
trusted certificate authority (CA) creates both keys simultaneously with the same algorithm. A
registration authority (RA) must verify the certificate authority before a digital certificate is issued
to a requestor. The PKI uses the digital certificate to identify an individual or an organization.
The private key is given only to the requesting party and is never shared, and the public key is
made publicly available (as part of the digital certificate) in a directory that all parties can access.
One uses the private key to decrypt text that has been encrypted with the public key by
someone else. The certificates are stored (and, when necessary, revoked) by directory services
and managed by a certificate management system.
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