802.11i
802.11i is a draft IEEE standard for 802.11 wireless network security. 802.11i defines several new standards, and also relies heavily on many existing standards.
New Protocols in 802.11i
802.11i introduced the RSN (Robust Secure Network) protocol for establishing secure communications.
802.11i also introduced the WRAP (Wireless Robust Authentication Protocol) and CCMP encryption protocols. WRAP and CCMP are both based upon the AES encryption algorithm.
802.11i utilizes EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) as the end-to-end transport for authentication methods between the wireless NIC (Network Interface Card) and the WAP (Wireless Access Point). 802.11i uses 802.1X (EAPoL) to encapsulate these EAP messages over wireless Ethernet.
802.11i, EAP-TLS, and RADIUS
Although EAP-TLS is not an official component of the 802.11i standard, it is the de facto authentication protocol for 802.11i wireless networks.
RADIUS is also not an official component of the 802.11i standard, but it is the de facto standard authentication provider.
Additional Information on 802.11i
For more information on 802.11i, check out this Overview.
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- CCMP (Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol)
CCMP (Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol) is the preferred encryption protocol in the 802.11i standard. CCMP Cryptography CCMP is based upon the CCM mode of the AES encryption algorithm. CCMP utilizes 128-bit keys, with a 48-bit initialization vector (IV) for replay detection. The Components of CCMP The Counter Mode (CM) [...]...
- WRAP (Wireless Robust Authenticated Protocol)
WRAP (Wireless Robust Authenticated Protocol) is an encryption protocol in the 802.11i standard. WRAP is based upon the Offset Codebook (OCB) mode of AES. WRAP is being Replaced with CCMP Intellectual property rights issues have plagued WRAP. Three different parties have filed for patents on WRAP. These intellectual property issues caused the IEEE to introduce [...]...
- RSN (Robust Secure Network)
RSN (Robust Secure Network) is a protocol for establishing secure communications over an 802.11 wireless network. RSN (Robust Secure Network) is part of the 802.11i standard. The RSN Protocol Process The RSN protocol functions as follows: The wireless NIC sends a Probe Request. The wireless access point sends a Probe Response with an RSN Information [...]...
- TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)
TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) is part of a draft standard from the IEEE 802.11i working group. TKIP utilizes the RC4 stream cipher with 128-bit keys for encryption and 64-bit keys for authentication. TKIP is an enhancement to WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) security. TKIP enhances WEP by adding a per-packet key mixing function to de-correlate [...]...
- WiMAX
WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMAX is a broadband wireless point-to-multipoint specification from the IEEE 802.16 working group. Unlike wireless LAN technologies such as Wi-Fi (802.11), WiMAX is designed to operate as a wireless MAN (Metropolitan Area Network). This places WiMAX in the same class as the earlier 802.16 standards, MMDS and [...]...