Evolution of Wireless LAN Security Standards

As wireless LANs (WLANs) become ubiquitous, the issue of network security in the wireless domain becomes one of crucial interest. In response to security concerns, the IEEE standard 802.11 proposed a protocol known as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). However, the discovery of serious loopholes in WEP had a negative impact on the deployment of WLANs for corporate networks, and possibly on the growth of mobile commerce. This project intends to investigate the evolution of wireless LAN security standards. It starts with a discussion of the security requirements of a wireless system, and how some of the earlier protocols like WEP tried to address these requirements. It then looks at the various vulnerabilities that were discovered in its design. The next protocol discussed is the 802.1x authentication model, which is gaining popularity in the WLAN community, in spite of some design flaws. The industry is now eagerly awaiting the new standard by IEEE Task Group I known as 802.11i, which is due to be released later this year. This report will investigate the current security standards, their relative advantages and disadvantages, and propose improvements to the awaited standard. Also, based on this investigation, recommendations for new wireless LAN security standards will be provided. The analysis of much-awaited 802.11i will answer how far it might go towards addressing all WLAN security concerns.