| | | | Wi-Fi Protected Access. Security standard for the protection of wireless networks, designed to be an improvement over the previous incarnation, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and to facilitate a migration away from it. Several weaknesses were identified in the Wired Equivalent Privacy protocol and it is now generally only considered secure enough for occasional home-users. WPA is compliant with most of the 802.11i standard (an amendemnet to the IEEE 802.11 standard seen implemented in 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g and which amounts to a set of stipulations that govern wireless networking transmission methods). Devised by the industry trade group the Wi-Fi Alliance, WPA provides improved encryption over WEP by using the 128-bit key TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) and improved user authentication. TKIP changes system keys dynamcially, preventing keys created by attackers from being used effectively. User authentication is improved by EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol), which is more secure than the MAC address-based authentication of WEP - pre-shared keys can still be used (as in WEP), however use of a RADIUS authentication server verifies each user and means keys can be generated automatically. WPA2 is a further improvement over WPA, complying fully with the 802.11i mandatory requirements and uses an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm called CCMP that is totally secure. WPA2 is not backwards-compatible with WEP and whereas some WEP devices can have their firmware updated to make them WPA compatible, "moving up" from WEP to WPA2 on a network will generally require new hardware to be purchased. Since 2006 all new wireless devices are required to have WPA2 certification before being offered for sale. | | | |
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