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Performing Advanced Configuration
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a security standard designed by the Wi-Fi Alliance in
conjunction with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The AP supports
WPA2, defined in the IEEE 802.11i security standard.
WPA is a replacement for Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), the encryption technique specified
by the original 802.11 standard. WEP has several vulnerabilities that have been widely
publicized. WPA addresses these weaknesses and provides a stronger security system to
protect wireless networks.
WPA provides the following new security measures not available with WEP:
Improved packet encryption using the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and the
•
Michael Message Integrity Check (MIC).
Per-user, per-session dynamic encryption keys:
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- Each client uses a different key to encrypt and decrypt unicast packets exchanged with
the AP
- A client's key is different for every session; it changes each time the client associates
with an AP
- The AP uses a single global key to encrypt broadcast packets that are sent to all clients
simultaneously
- Encryption keys change periodically based on the Re-keying Interval parameter
- WPA uses 128-bit encryption keys
Dynamic Key distribution
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- The AP generates and maintains the keys for its clients
- The AP securely delivers the appropriate keys to its clients
Client/server mutual authentication
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- 802.1x
- Pre-shared key (for networks that do not have an 802.1x solution implemented)
Note:
For more information on WPA, see the Wi-Fi Alliance Web site at
Note:
www.wi-fi.org.
The AP supports the following WPA authentication modes:
WPA: The AP uses 802.1x to authenticate clients. You should only use an EAP that
•
supports mutual authentication and session key generation, such as EAP-TLS,
EAP-TTLS, and PEAP. See
WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key): For networks that do not have 802.1x implemented, you
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can configure the AP to authenticate clients based on a Pre-Shared Key. This is a shared
secret that is manually configured on the AP and each of its clients. The Pre-Shared Key
must be 256 bits long, which is either 64 hexadecimal digits. The AP also supports a PSK
134 Avaya Wireless AP-7 User Guide
802.1x Authentication
http://
on page 132 for details.
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