After two years of rousing debate, the body responsible for the Wi-Fi standard is finally putting the finishing touches on its new security standard, IEEE 802.11i. Although this standard's Robust Security Network feature will deliver the level of security the wireless . . .
After two years of rousing debate, the body responsible for the Wi-Fi standard is finally putting the finishing touches on its new security standard, IEEE 802.11i. Although this standard's Robust Security Network feature will deliver the level of security the wireless world is clamoring for, don't be fooled: Your wireless network won't be secure until your transition to RSN is complete.

RSN defines two security methodologies--one for legacy hardware based on RC4 and one for new hardware based on AES. The standard also provides the flexibility to add new methodologies if the need arises. RSN uses the IEEE 802.1x port-authentication standard to authenticate wireless devices to the network and to provide the dynamic keys it requires. The task group does not specify any authentication method over 802.1x; it just defines the features such a method must provide. The idea here is to "future-proof" the RSN authentication process.

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