2.3 - Wireless Encryption

Securing a wireless network

• An organization’s wireless network can contain

confidential information

– Not everyone is allowed access

• Authenticate the users before granting access

– Who gets access to the wireless network?

– Username, password, multi-factor authentication

• Ensure that all communication is confidential

– Encrypt the wireless data

• Verify the integrity of all communication

– The received data should be identical to

the original sent data

– A message integrity check (MIC)

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

• 2002: WPA was the replacement for serious

cryptographic weaknesses in WEP

– (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

– Don’t use WEP

• Needed a short-term bridge between WEP and

whatever would be the successor

– Run on existing hardware

WPA2 and CCMP

• Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2)

– WPA2 certification began in 2004

• CCMP block cipher mode

– Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining

Message Authentication Code Protocol, or

Counter/CBC-MAC Protocol

• CCMP security services

– Data confidentiality with AES encryption

– Message Integrity Check (MIC) with CBC-MAC

WPA3 and GCMP

• Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3)

– Introduced in 2018

• GCMP block cipher mode

– Galois/Counter Mode Protocol

– A stronger encryption than WPA2

• GCMP security services

– Data confidentiality with AES

– Message Integrity Check (MIC) with

– Galois Message Authentication Code (GMAC)