packet that can be transmitted.
● SSID - A Service Set Identification is a thirty-two character (maximum)
alphanumeric key identifying a wireless local area network. For the wireless
devices in a network to communicate with each other, all devices must be
configured with the same SSID. This is typically the configuration
parameter for a wireless PC card. It corresponds to the ESSID in the
wireless Access Point and to the wireless network name.
● WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) - A data privacy mechanism based on a
64-bit or 128-bit or 152-bit shared key algorithm, as described in the IEEE
802.11 standard.
● Wi-Fi –A trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance and the brand name for products
using the IEEE 802.11 family of standards.
● WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) - A group of computers and
associated devices communicate with each other wirelessly, which network
serving users are limited in a local area.
● WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) - WPA is a security technology for wireless
networks that improves on the authentication and encryption features of
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). In fact, WPA was developed by the
networking industry in response to the shortcomings of WEP. One of the
key technologies behind WPA is the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP).
TKIP addresses the encryption weaknesses of WEP. Another key
component of WPA is built-in authentication that WEP does not offer. With
this feature, WPA provides roughly comparable security to VPN tunneling
with WEP, with the benefit of easier administration and use. This is similar
to 802.1x support and requires a RADIUS server in order to implement. The
Wi-Fi Alliance will call this, WPA-Enterprise. One variation of WPA is called
WPA Pre Shared Key or WPA-Personal for short - this provides an
authentication alternative to an expensive RADIUS server. WPA-Personal
is a simplified but still powerful form of WPA most suitable for home Wi-Fi
networking. To use WPA-Personal, a person sets a static key or
"passphrase" as with WEP. But, using TKIP, WPA-Personal automatically
changes the keys at a preset time interval, making it much more difficult for
hackers to find and exploit them. The Wi-Fi Alliance will call this, WPA-
Personal.
Appendix
29