Wireless Security Protocols

Question 1

WPA3

Answer 1

WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3): A security protocol for Wi-Fi networks, introduced in 2018, that offers stronger encryption and enhanced protection for open networks. The WPA3 standard introduced support for Protected Management Frames (PMF), which secures management frame communication between an access point (AP) and a client, and Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), which enables clients and APs to mutually authenticate. Like Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2, WPA3 also supports 802.1X and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)-based authentication methods.

Question 2

CCMP

Answer 2

CCMP (Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol): A protocol for ensuring data confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity in WPA2 and WPA3 (as a minimum security requirement) by using AES encryption. It’s not as gangsta as GCMP, but still acceptable.

Question 3

PMF

Answer 3

PMF (Protected Management Frames): A feature in WPA3 that secures management communication between access points (APs) and clients to prevent eavesdropping or attacks.

Question 4

SAE

Answer 4

SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals): A key exchange mechanism used in WPA3 to enhance security by replacing the traditional pre-shared key (PSK) exchange.

Question 5

AES

Answer 5

AES (Advanced Encryption Standard): A widely used encryption standard in network security, used in both WPA2 and WPA3 for securing wireless networks.

Question 6

GCMP

Answer 6

GCMP (Galois/Counter Mode Protocol): An encryption mode used in WPA3 for enhancing the security of the data exchanged between clients and APs. It’s megagangsta.

Question 7

MIC

Answer 7

MIC (Message Integrity Code): A security feature that checks whether data has been altered during transmission.

Question 8

EAP

Answer 8

EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol): A framework used in WPA3 for various authentication methods, often used in combination with 802.1X.

Question 9

TKIP

Answer 9

TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol): An older encryption protocol used in WPA networks for ensuring packet integrity but now considered insecure compared to AES.

Question 10

RC4

Answer 10

RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4) is a stream cipher that was designed by Ron Rivest in 1987. It is one of the most widely used stream ciphers in the past, particularly in protocols like WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and the older versions of SSL/TLS for secure internet communications. However, due to significant security vulnerabilities, it has been deprecated in modern encryption standards.

Question 11

802.1X

Answer 11

802.1X: A network authentication protocol used in enterprise networks to provide port-based network access control.