Network Security WPA is a security protocol, which is used for wireless connections. The primary purpose of WPA is to replace the original security protocol, the WEP. WEP has been widely criticized for its lack of security and has proved to be an inadequate mechanism to prevent security attacks.
The main problem with WEP is that it uses static keys and static encryption. This means that the keys are not changed, and all wireless devices in a network are using the same key, which one can easily retrieve.
Due to many weaknesses, wireless networks have become a target for various hackers who are trying to gain access to sensitive information. With their increasing popularity, more and more people and organizations started using wireless networks without taking due precautions regarding security.
What is AES?
AES stands for Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). It is a cryptographic algorithm that ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Further, developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) in response to the growing concern about data encryption.
It was first published in 1997 as Rijndael algorithm. In 2002, it became known as AES publicly when it was adopted as a U.S. federal encryption standard by the U.S. government and approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
What is CCMP?
CCMP stands for Counter Mode Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP). CCMP is a protocol for encryption. But it also supports message authentication code (MAC), to protect data integrity. As well as provide data origin authentication in order to prevent any unauthorized parties from altering or modifying any communications sent between two parties across a secured connection.
What is WPA2?
WPA2 stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access II. So, WPA2 is a better version of the original WPA. Further, developed to overcome some of its limitations. WPA2 uses CCMP (Counter Mode Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol) for data encryption. Unlike WEP, it uses dynamic keys and therefore changes keys automatically to prevent any unauthorized access.
Why the need for Network Security WPA2?
A number of security mechanisms are to provide a more secure wireless connection. These include Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), Michael message integrity code, and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). These security mechanisms help to prevent various types of attacks carried out by hackers.
What is Temporal Key Integrity Protocol(TKIP)?
TKIP stands for Temporal Key Integrity Protocol. It is a security enhancement to the WEP protocol. TKIP is to correct some of the flaws that existed in the WEP security protocol. One of the major flaws in WEP was its use of static keys, which allowed an attacker to decrypt the information using readily available tools.
What is Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)?
Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) allows network administrators to configure a series of authentication methods and provides support for additional security features. There are several versions of EAP, each version providing different types of authentication and allowing different authentication methods. The EAP-TLS version provides mutual authentication between the client and server and uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol as its basis. This version also supports user or computer certificates for authentication.
Conclusion
It is essential to have a working knowledge of Network Security WPA2 and its implementation in order to protect wireless networks. WPA2 is a security protocol, which combines CCMP, AES and TKIP. CCMP is a protocol for encryption while TKIP is a security enhancement to the WEP protocol and AES is an encryption standard that ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and authentication.