Configuring Strong Wi-fi (802.1x) Authentication in Linux

"The transition from WEP to WPA to WPA2

"Back when the vulnerabilities of WEP encryption for Wi-Fi networks were uncovered, the IEEE and wireless industry started developing new protocols and standards. They came up with the 802.11i, a standard to finally implement a fully secure encryption mechanism for wireless LANs. Before it was completed, the Wi-Fi Alliance released the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption standard, loosely based on 802.11i using TKIP for the underlying encryption. Later they released WPA2, which includes full support for 802.11i using AES/CCMP encryption.

"As many news outlets have discussed lately, there have been more flaws found in the first version of WPA. However, unlike some reports say, it hasn't been cracked; full encryption keys or passphrases haven't been recovered. The flaws apply to the underlying TKIP encryption and affects both the Enterprise and PSK modes of the first version of WPA. This does not have anything to do with WPA2, which uses a fully secure AES/CCMP encryption. Though WPA currently provides adequate security, especially with long and mixed character passphrases, you should try to migrate to WPA2--and make sure you don't use WEP at all."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Ask the Wi-Fi Guru, Episode XX(Oct 23, 2009)
• Review: Linksys WRT160NL Linux Powered Wireless-N Router(Oct 20, 2009)
• How to: Build a Wireless Bridge Using DD-WRT, Part II (Oct 01, 2009)
• How to: Build a Wireless Bridge Using DD-WRT, Part I(Sep 28, 2009)
• Ask the Wi-Fi Guru: Range Extension, Bridging, Mixing WPA and WPA2 (you can't)(Sep 23, 2009)
• Attack on WPA refined(Aug 28, 2009)
• First WEP, Now WPA Encryption Falls(Aug 28, 2009)
• Cracking WiFI passwords with ATI and NVIDIA(Jan 15, 2009)
• WPA Vulnerability Discovered(Nov 11, 2008)
• Configuring WPA2 (AES) in Slackware(Aug 15, 2008)
• Linux Wi-Fi: Supercharge a Buffalo (Part 2)(May 16, 2007)
• Linux.com: Create a Secure Linux-based Wireless Access Point(Jul 20, 2006)