Wireless encryption

WEP

Wired Equivalent privacy

Very weak and not recommended

WPA 1

Uses RC4 cipher and TKIP (temporal key integrity protocol)

Improvement over WEP

Uses larger IV (initialization vector) and encrypted hash

128-bit encryption key

WPA2 and CCMP

CCMP is a block cipher

Uses AES encryption

Message Integrity Check (MIC) with CBC-MAC protocol

WPA3 and GCMP

GCMP is a block cipher, stronger than WPA2

AES encryption, MIC with CBC-MAC, and GMAC

What is the problem with WPA2 PSK?

WPA2 vulnerability in 4-way handshake

Attacker can listen and derive PSK hash —> then can brute force the pre-shared key (PSK)

Everyone uses the same PSK —> can listen and steal data

Why is WPA3 better?

Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE)

Means everyone uses a different session key, even with the same PSK

Create a shared session key without sending the key across the network

No 4-way handshake, no hash, no brute force attack

Wireless security modes

Open system = no authentication password

WPA/2/3-Personal + WPA/2/3-PSK = everyone uses the same PSK

WPA/2/3-Enterprise + WPA/2/3-802.1X = Authenticates users individually with authentication server (RADIUS)

What is PSK?

Client authentication method for WPA-2 personal mode

SAE

Authentication method used for WPA3 personal mode

Ideal for small network without an authentication server

Characteristics of WPA/WPA3 Enterprise mode?

Suitable for corporate network

IEEE 802.1X

Requires RADIUS Authentication server

Characteristics of TACACS+

Encrypts entire payload of the access-request packet

Separates authentication and authorization

Used for device admin

Characteristics of RADIUS

Encrypts only the password in the access-request packet

Combines authentication and authorization

Used for network access

Kerberos

Authentication protocol used to enable SSO in Windows environment

Assigns unique encrypted key (ticket) to each user that logs onto the network

What is the purpose of client timestamp in Kerberos authentication?

Prevent against replay attacks

Attacker intercepts a data packet and can replicate it, then send to recipient

Ex: multiple unauthorized credit card charges