Wi-Fi Security Basics

Wi-Fi Security

Wi-Fi security is the protection of devices and networks connected in a wireless environment. Without Wi-Fi security, a networking device such as a wireless access point or a router can be accessed by anyone using a computer or mobile device within range of the router's wireless signal.

Keeping wireless or wi-fi networks open or unsecure can be risky for users and organizations. So, Wi-Fi protection is designed to avoid unauthorized access to wireless devices. There are various types of wireless security protocols that have been developed for the safety of home wireless networks such as WEP, WPA, WPA2.

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

The Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) Protocol was a standard developed in 1999. WEP was using the data encryption scheme that was based on a combination of user and system generated key values. However, it was not stable, so officially it was discontinued. 

WPA (WI-FI PROTECTED ACCESS) 

After discontinuing WEP, WPA introduced with some additional feature for security. The new feature was Temporary Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), where it came with 128-bit dynamic key. TKIP has other features such as Boosting encryption strength, preventing collision attacks without hardware replacement.

TKIP was useful for upgrading security on devices originally equipped with WEP, although it does not address all of the security issues facing WLANs and may not be reliable enough for sensitive data transmission. 

WPA2

WPA2 introduced with significant changes and more features to the wireless security posture. WPA2 replaced TKIP with the Counter Mode Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) which is a far superior encryption tool. WPA2 has been taken as the industry standard since its commencement, on March 13, 2006.

WPA2-PSK

WPA2-PSK (Pre-Shared Key) requires only one password to connect to the wireless network. It is generally accepted that a single password to access Wi-Fi is safe but only as much as you trust those using it. WPA2-PSK is secure but shares a password to all the users connected to the network, leading to snoop on the network by the attacker.

SSID

SSID Stands for "Service Set Identifier." It is a unique ID that consists of 32 characters and is used for naming wireless networks. When multiple wireless networks overlap or present at a certain location, SSIDs make sure that data gets sent to the correct destination or need to distinguish which one is the right one to connect. 

-DR