Wireless Security

Wireless Security is called WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). Wireless Security has in its specification addressed several goals, such as strong interoperable security as the replacement for Wired Equivalent Privacy and software upgradeability of existing Wireless Security certified products. It targets both Home or Small Office and Home Office and large enterprise users, and a requirement for its development was to be available immediately. Because Wireless Security is derived from Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers standardization efforts, it is also forward compatible with the upcoming standard. When properly installed, Wireless Security provides wireless Local Area Network users with a high level of assurance that their data will remain protected and that only authorized network users can access the network. The Wireless Security Alliance started interoperability certification testing on Wireless Security and mandates Wireless Security certification from all vendors shipping Wireless Local Area Network products.

To address the Wired Equivalent Privacy problems, Wireless Security has improved data encryption and user authentication, together with a dynamic per-user, per-session key exchange mechanism. Enhanced data encryption is achieved through the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol. Through these enhancements, Temporal Key Integrity Protocol addresses all Wired Equivalent Privacy encryption vulnerabilities known thus far. For the dynamic per-user, per-session key exchange, Wireless Security relies on Extensible Authentication Protocol methods and, depending on its use. Wireless Security has several flavors: enterprise, home, public, and mixed modes.

Wireless Security for the Enterprise:
Wireless Security effectively addresses the Wireless Local Area Network security requirements for the enterprise and provides a strong encryption and authentication solution prior to the ratification of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers standard. In an enterprise scenario, Wireless Security should be used in conjunction with an authentication server such as Remote Authentication Dial In User Service to provide centralized access control and user-level authentication management. It includes enhanced data encryption through Temporal Key Integrity Protocol plus per-session, per-user key generation and management protocol via Extensible Authentication Protocol methods.

Wireless Security for Home or Small Office and Home Office:
In a Home or Small Office and Home Office environment where there are no central authentication servers or Extensible Authentication Protocol frameworks, Wireless Security runs in a special home mode. All the home user needs to do is enter a password in his or her access point or home wireless gateway and in each personal computer that is on the Wireless Security network. Wireless Security takes over automatically from that point. The devices allows password with a matching password to join the network, unauthorized users. As for the Wireless Security manual password security level, it is recommended to use a robust password or a passphrase greater than eight characters with alpha, numeric, and special characters, and no dictionary names.

Wireless Security for Public Access:
The intrinsic encryption and authentication schemes defined Wireless Security may also prove useful for wireless Internet Service Providers offering Wireless Security secure transmission and verification are predominantly important to users unknown to each other. The authentication capability defined in the specification enables a secure access control mechanism for the service providers and for mobile users not utilizing Virtual Private Network connections.

Wireless Security in Mixed Mode:
In a large network with many clients, a likely scenario is that access points will be upgraded before all the Wireless Security clients. Some access points may operate in a mixed mode, which supports both clients running Wireless Security and clients running original Wired Equivalent Privacy security, will operate at the less secure level common to all the devices. Therefore, the benefits of this mode are limited and meant to be used only during the transition period.