Wireless Security

Question 1

What is WPA?

Answer 1

Wireless Protected Access
The first version of WPA was designed to fix vulnerabilities int the earlier WEP (wired equivalent privacy) standard.

Question 2

What are WPA version 1 features?

Answer 2

Uses RC4 symmetric cipher to encrypt traffic (like WEP).
Adds a mechanism called TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) which was meant to address the vulnerabilities in WEP.

Question 3

What is AES and how does it work?

Answer 3

Advanced Encryption Standard.
Uses symmetric keys and block ciphers to encrypt data.
This means data is divided into blocks of 128-bits and each block is encrypted independently.
AES replaced TKIP and is used to secure Wi-Fi Networks using WPA2 and WPA3

Question 4

What are WPA2 features?

Answer 4

Uses AES and CCMP (Counter Mode with Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol).
CCMP provides authenticated encryption which is designed to make replay attacks harder.
Uses a 4 way handshake with a preshared key called PSK
AES replaces RC4 and CCMP replaces TKIP.
Some access points allow WPA2 to be used in WPA2-TKIP or WPA2-TKIP+AES compatibility mode. This supports legacy client but weakens security.

Question 5

What are WPA3 features?

Answer 5

SAE (Simultaneous Authentication of Equals)
WPA2’s PSK was vulnerable to manipulation that allowed threat actors to recover the key so SAE replaces PSK.
updated Cryptographic protocols- Replaces AES CCMP with the stringer AES GCMP (Galois Counter Mode Protocol)
Protected management frames-mandates use of encryption for management frames to protect agains key recovery attacks and DoS
Wi-Fi Enhanced Open- Encrypts network traffic even if Wi-Fi has no passphrase.

Question 6

What are 3 types of Wi-Fi authentication?

Answer 6

open, personal, an enterprise

Question 7

What are the 2 methods of personal authentication?

Answer 7

WPA2 PSK:
WPA3 SAE:

Question 8

What does WPA 802.1X enterprise authentication method implement?

Answer 8

EAP (extensible Authentication Protocol)

Question 9

What is EAP?

Answer 9

Extensible Authentication Protocol
Allows the use of different mechanisms to authenticate against a network directory.