Wi-Fi Security

There are different types of Wi-Fi security.

Open

• Also known as “Open authentication” or “Open System Authentication”
• No encryption is required
• Ease of Connection: Simple and straightforward connection process
• Limited security: No authentication and no encryption

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

• One of the first security protocols developed for wireless networks.
• It uses static encryption keys for securing data transmission.
  • Keys can be either 64 or 124 bits in length
• It uses a simple encryption algorithm that proved to be inadequate for robust security.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

• Intended as a stop-gap until the WPA2 hardware rollout.
• Could be implemented on WEP hardware with a new patch install.
• The data rate is limited to 54 Mbps.
• Two Variants
  • WPA-Personal/WPA-PSK
    • 8- to 63-character pre-shared passkey
  • WPA-Enterprise
    • Credentials are sent from the AP to a Radius server for authentication

WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2)

• new Cipher suite
• Required new hardware
• Two Variants
  • WPA-Personal/WPA-PSK
    • 8 to 63-character pre-shared passkey
  • WPA-Enterprise
    • Credentials are sent from the AP to a Radius server for authentication

WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3)

• Enhanced Open
• WPA3-Personal
  • Provides forward secrecy with simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE)
  • Complex passphrases are no longer required.
• WPA3-Enterprise
  • much stronger encryption
• Encryption for open networks with Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE)