WLAN standard has evolved from the early days of Wi-Fi to the present day in the area of authentication mechanisms and security for WLAN devices. Authentication mechanisms and security are two separate entities and should not be confused with one another.
- Authentication mechanisms provide a means to gain access to a particular network
- Security provides data confidentiality. It is used to make sure that any packet transmitted between two WLAN stations is secure
The initial 802.11 Standard specified Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) as a means of security. WEP as the name suggests was supposed to provide privacy that was equivalent to a wired network. WEP fell short of its objectives in a big way.
The 802.11 Standard also defined two means of authentication
- Open System Authentication
- Shared Key Authentication
We shall look at the Initial authentication and security protocols in the following articles