802.11, 802.1x, and Wireless Security

Wireless local area networks are increasingly deployed by businesses, government, and SOHO users because of the freedom wireless communications afford and the decreasing costs of the underlying technology. Current security mechanisms for maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of wireless communications are problematic, however. For example, although the 1997 IEEE 802.11 wireless standard specifies both an authentication service and encryption protocol, sources have demonstrated these to be severely flawed, leaving wireless communications open to several types of attacks. Recent security standards, such as the IEEE 802.1x, intend to provide solutions to these security defects. However, sources have shown that even the new standards are flawed, allowing attackers to perpetrate both active as well as passive attacks.

This paper focuses on a description and analysis of the security standards described in the IEEE 802.11 and 802.1x standards, as well as some of the inherent problems with the security mechanisms defined in the standards. Recommendations for securing wireless networks are provided.