
This mode does not require a dedicated authentication server. The WPA/WPA2 personal edition provides a simplified authentication mode: pre-shared key authentication (WPA/WPA2-PSK). The two protocols provide almost the same security level and their difference lies in the protocol packet format.įigure 11-2 EAP-PEAP 802.1X authenticationĪ dedicated authentication server is expensive and difficult to maintain for small- and medium-scale enterprises and individual users. WPA2 uses Counter Mode with CBC-MAC Protocol (CCMP), a more secure encryption algorithm than those used in WPA.īoth WPA and WPA2 support 802.1X authentication and the TKIP/CCMP encryption algorithms, ensuring betterĬompatibility. WPA still uses the RC4 algorithm, but it uses an 802.1X authenticationįramework and supports Extensible Authentication Protocol-Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP-PEAP) and EAP-Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS) authentication, and defines the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption algorithm. The Wi-Fi Alliance developed Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to overcome the shortcomings of WEP before more secure policies were provided in 802.11i. Both the encryption mechanism and encryption algorithm can bring security risks to the network. This authentication method requires the same static key pre-configured on the server and client.

WEP shared key authentication uses the RC4 symmetric stream cipher to encrypt data.
