WPA - WiFi Protected Access

Latest update on Thursday 16 October 2008 à 09:43 by Jean-François Pillou.

Introduction to WPA

WPA (WiFi protected Access) WiFi network security solution offered by the WiFi Alliance, in order to fill gaps in WEP.

WPA - WiFi Protected Access

WPA is a "light" version of the 802.11i protocol, which relies on authentication protocols and a strong encryption algorithm: TKIP (Temporary Key Integrity Protocol). TKIP generates keys randomly and can alter an encryption key several times a second, for greater security.

WPA requires installing an authentication server (most commonly a RADIUS server), which identifies users on a network and sets their access privileges. Nonetheless, small networks can make use of a simpler version of WPA, called WPA-PSK, by deploying the same encryption key on all devices, which eliminates the need for a RADIUS server.

WPA (in its first build) only supports networks in infrastructure mode, which means it cannot be used to secure wireless peer-to-peer networks (ad hoc mode).

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