Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless Networks to Get More Secure

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 01:35:14 -0400

Wireless Networks to Get More Secure
Source: Newsbytes
Publication date: 2004-05-05

The next version of the Wi-Fi Protected Access standard will meet
government requirements for secure wireless networks, an industry
executive said this week.

Frank Hanzlik, managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, said WPA 2,
which will be certified in September, will incorporate AES encryption
and be compliant with FIPS 140-2 security measures. It will also comply
with the Defense Department’s recently released wireless policy, which
requires encryption of all data that is wirelessly transmitted.

WPA 2 is the functional equivalent of the new 802.11i wireless standard,
which comes out in June. The first version of WPA, a subset of 802.11i,
came out last June to supersede the much-maligned wired equivalency
privacy (WEP) standard, which critics said was vulnerable to hacking.
There are currently more than 300 Wi-Fi devices that incorporate WPA
security.
Hanzlik said WPA 2 will be backwards compatible with Wi-Fi devices
running first-generation WPA security. However, current Wi-Fi devices
will not be software upgradeable to the new standard.

Because WPA 2 includes stronger encryption than WPA, Wi-Fi-compliant
devices will require an additional chip in order to perform the
encryption/decryption functions.

Asked why government agencies would want to replace current Wi-Fi
devices with WPA 2 devices if they’ve already invested in encryption
methods, such as virtual private networking, Wi-Fi Alliance Marketing
Director Brian Grimm said interoperability is the main reason. Agencies
setting up multiple wireless LANs will benefit from a single,
interoperable security platform.
The Wi-Fi Alliance is an industry group formed to certify the
interoperability of wireless LAN products based on IEEE 802.11
standards. Its members include Cisco Systems Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett
Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Texas
Instruments Inc.

Reported By Washington Technology,
http://www.washingtontechnology.com
http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=50747155&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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