MC8687P Mini PCIe WLAN Client Card User’s Guide
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Doc. No________ Rev.V1.0
Confidential
Copyright © 2007 Marvell
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7
Document Classification: Proprietary Information
December 28, 2007
2.3 Security
Implementing a security infrastructure to monitor physical access to WLAN
networks is more difficult than monitoring access on wired networks. Unlike
wired networks where a physical connection is required, anyone within the range
of a wireless AP can send and receive frames, as well as listen for frames being
sent.
IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.1X define a set of standards and protocols for use in
minimizing the security risks on wireless networks. These include the
authentication modes used to authenticate the wireless client station and the
wireless AP to be connected, complemented by different encryption methods used
for data to be transmitted over the wireless network. Four of these security
standards are as follows:
•
802.1X-802.1X
authentication provides authenticated access to 802.11
wireless networks and to wired Ethernet networks. 802.1X minimizes
wireless network security risks by providing user and computer
identification, centralized authentication, and encryption services based on
the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm. 802.1X supports the
Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). EAP allows the use of different
authentication methods, such as smart cards and certificates.
•
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
– WEP is a basic securing
implementation according to the IEEE 802.11 standard. Due to various
security issues WEP encryption is vulnerable and was therefore
superseded by WPA and WPA2 encryption.
•
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
– WPA is a security implementation
based on a subset of the 802.11i standard. WPA provides enhanced
security for wireless networks when used with the Temporal Key Integrity
Protocol (TKIP) and the Message Integrity Check (MIC) algorithms.
•
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
– WPA2 is the next generation Wi-Fi
security, based on the final 802.11i standard. WPA2 offers the strongest
available security in the form of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
level encryption, plus faster roaming between APs.
Security Configurations
The Marvell Wireless Configuration Utility supports the following security
features:
•
Authentication Modes
o
Open System
o
Shared Key
o
Auto Switch
o
WPA – PSK
o
WPA2-PSK
o
WPA
