WLAN Security: Which Protocol Is Best For You?
If your organization has ever investigated WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) or WPA2 for securing its wireless infrastructure, the terms '802.1X' and 'EAP' (Extensible Authentication Protocol) will come up frequently. Both WPA and WPA2 are Wi-Fi Alliance standards based on IEEE 802.11i, a wireless security standard that dramatically improves upon the very insecure WEP (Wireless Equivalent Privacy).
Most security paradigms include the core concepts of authentication, confidentiality and data integrity. The WPA standards describe the elements of confidentiality (encryption) and data integrity, but it is IEEE 802.1X that describes a framework for port-based authentication.
