Chapter 7: Networking

Concepts

IT Essentials v6.0

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 Page 7.2.2.4 : Wireless Standards
 IEEE 802.11, or Wi-Fi, refers to a collective group of
standards that specify the radio frequencies, speeds,
and other capabilities for WLANs. Various
implementation of the IEEE 802.11 standard have been
developed over the years, as shown in the figure.
 The 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g standards should
be considered legacy. New WLANs should implement
802.11ac devices. Existing WLAN implementations
should upgrade to 802.11ac when purchasing new
devices.

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 Page 7.2.2.5 : Wireless Security
 The best way to secure a wireless network is to use
authentication and encryption. Two types of
authentication were introduced with the original 802.11
standard, as shown in the figure:
 Open system authentication - Any wireless device
can connect to the wireless network. This should only
be used in situations where security is of no concern.
 Shared key authentication - Provides mechanisms to
authenticate and encrypt data between a wireless client
and AP or wireless router.

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 Page 7.2.2.5 : Wireless Security
 The three shared key authentication techniques for
WLANs are as follows:
 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) - This was the
original 802.11 specification securing WLANs.
However, the encryption key never changes when
exchanging packets, making it easy to hack.
 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) - This standard uses
WEP, but secures the data with the much stronger
Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption
algorithm. TKIP changes the key for each packet,
making it much more difficult to hack.

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 Page 7.2.2.5 : Wireless Security
 IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 - IEEE 802.11i is now the industry
standard for securing WLANs. The Wi-Fi alliance
version is called WPA2. 802.11i and WPA2 both use
the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for
encryption. AES is currently considered the strongest
encryption protocol.
.

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 Page 7.2.2.5 : Wireless Security
 Since 2006, any device that bears the Wi-Fi Certified
logo is WPA2 certified. Therefore, modern WLANs
should always use the 802.11i/WPA2 standard.

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