Wi-Fi Protected Access
The Wi-Fi Alliance, working in conjunction with the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE), has brought a strong interoperable Wi-Fi security specification to
market in the form of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA).
WPA greatly increases the level of over-the-air data protection and access control on
existing and future Wi-Fi networks. It addresses all known weaknesses of Wired
Equivalent Privacy (WEP), the original native security mechanism in the 802.11
standard.
Although no security solution can claim to be "bullet-proof," WPA represents a quantum
leap forward in Wi-Fi security. WPA is built on standards-based interoperable security
enhancements. It brings forward features of the forthcoming IEEE 802.11i standard that
can be implemented immediately. WPA not only provides strong data encryption to
correct WEP's weaknesses, it adds user authentication which was largely missing in
WEP.
WPA is designed to secure all versions of 802.11 devices, including 802.11b, 802.11a,
and 802.11g, multi-band and multi-mode. As a subset of 802.11i (also known as WPA2),
WPA is both forward and backward-compatible and is designed to run on existing Wi-Fi
devices as a software download. .As such, WPA devices should work well with the
WPA2 devices expected to appear in the market in 2004.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, which conducts interoperability tests on Wi-Fi devices, is now testing
devices for WPA interoperability. These will appear in the market in the second quarter
of 2003.
WPA is designed to provide best-in-class enterprise security. At the same time, it offers
a mode for small office and home-based networks. It will fully replace WEP as the Wi-Fi
security solution.
WPA, when properly installed, provides users of wireless local area networks (WLANs)
with a high level of assurance that their data will remain protected and that only
authorized users can access their networks.
With WPA, companies that have been using add-on security mechanisms, such as
virtual private networks (VPNs) and other proprietary technologies to bolster security on
their Wi-Fi networks will find that these are no longer needed-at least not to secure the
wireless segments of the network.
