WPA2

From CryptoDox, The Online Encyclopedia on Cryptography and Information Security

The original Wi-Fi standard supported WEP as the encryption standard. Then came along WPA. WPA2 is the second generation of WPA security. It provides enterprise and consumer Wi-Fi users with a high level of assurance that only authorized users can access their wireless networks. WPA2 is based on the final IEEE 802.11i amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard.

WPA2 was not released due to flaws in WPA. WPA still remains secure.

WPA2 is backward-compatible with products that support WPA. Older WPA products can be upgraded to WPA2 if they can support AES. However, products running WPA2 cannot support older products using the wired equivalent privacy (WEP) security used by original Wi-Fi products -- and WEP is still the only security found on some Wi-Fi products even to this day.

See Also

• WEP
• WPA
• IEEE 802.11

External Links

• WPA versus 802.11i (WPA2): How your Choice Affects your Wireless Network Security
• WPA vs WEP: How your Choice Affects your Wireless Network Security