Exam 8: High-Speed Wlans and Wlan Security

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The 802.11i amendment, ratified in June 2004, was the result of a series of efforts to deal with the security weaknesses of the original WLAN standard. IEEE 802.11i defines a robust security network association (RSNA), which is a grouping of several security functions that protects data frames by providing mutual authentication between client devices and access points, controlled access to the network, establishment of security keys, and key management.
In 802.11i, a client device must be authenticated on the network by an external authentication server-such as a Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS), a popular method of authenticating users on a network-before associating with an AP. Another option is for the client to be authenticated by an authentication server similar to RADIUS but provided by the AP itself. All communication between the client device and the AP is blocked until the authentication process is completed. After the authentication process is completed, data protection through encryption and MIC are enabled. Only then is the client association with the AP allowed and communication unblocked.