Basics Of Computer Networking: WiFi Standards And Encryption Types
WiFi standards are the most widely used network standards, found across the globe in homes, offices, and public places. They enable laptops, smartphones, and smart devices to connect to the Internet no matter where they are- offices, homes, coffee shops, hotels, or airports.
In this blog post, we compare and contrast various WiFi networking standards and encryption types so that you better understand the capabilities of your Wi-Fi network and can plan future upgrades and expansions more effectively. And answer the following questions about WiFi Standards and Encryption:
In everyday parlance, WiFi is generally used to refer to wireless signal or connectivity. Technically, WiFi refers to a set of networking protocols that allow devices to connect to local area networks and the Internet using radio waves. The WiFi standards are based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards.
Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit organization that certifies the testing, and interoperability of products, and promotes the technology. The Wi-Fi alliance controls the "Wi-Fi Certified" logo and permits its use only on equipment that passes standard interoperability and security testing.
WiFi-certified devices can connect to each other as well as to wired network devices and the Internet through wireless access points. There are different versions of WiFi standards based on maximum data rate, frequency band, and maximum range. But all the different standards are designed to work seamlessly with one another and with wired networks.
WiFi standards are networking standards that govern protocols for implementing wireless local area networks (WLAN). These standards fall under the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’s (IEEE’s) 802.11 protocol family. Wi-Fi standards are the most commonly used networking standards for connecting devices in a wireless network.
The main goal of the WiFi standards is interoperability, which ensures that products from different vendors are compatible with each other and can interoperate in a variety of configurations. WiFi-certified devices are also backward compatible, which means that new equipment can work with the existing ones.
The interoperability and backward compatibility of Wi-Fi equipment have made the continued use of Wi-Fi equipment possible, enabling businesses to gradually upgrade their networks without massive upfront investment.
The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997 and since then WiFi standards have been constantly evolving to improve the quality of service provided by the network. In the following sections, we walk you through the development of the WiFi Networking Standards from 802.11 to the latest, 802.11ax.
802.11 was the original WiFi standard released by IEEE in 1997 and specified two bit rates of 1 and 2 Mbps (Megabits per second). It also specified three non-overlapping channels operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.
802.11a standard was released by IEEE in 1999. This upgraded standard operates in the 5 GHz frequency band, which is more suitable for use in open office spaces and offers a maximum data rate of 54 Mbps. Consequently, it quickly displaced the legacy 802.11 standard, especially in business environments.
802.11b standard was also released in 1999. 802.11b operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency band and offers a maximum data rate of 11 Mbps. 802.11b was more prevalent with home and domestic users.
802.11g standard was released in 2003. It operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency band and offers a maximum data rate of 54 Mbps. It uses Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based transmission scheme for achieving higher data rates. 802.11g standard was backward compatible with 802.11b, so most dual-band 802.11a/b products became dual-band/tri-mode, supporting a and b/g in a single access point. The inclusion of dual-band/tri-mod routers led to the widespread adoption of the 802.11g standard.
The 802.11n standard, released in 2009 brought a massive increase in data rate compared to its predecessors. It offered a maximum data rate of 600 Mbps and could operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands simultaneously. It provided support for multi-user and multi-channel transmission, making it a preferred choice for enterprise networks. The 802.11n standard was later labeled as Wi-Fi 4.
The 802.11ac standard was released in 2013 and brought another jump in data rates. It offers a maximum data rate of 1.3 Gbps (Gigabits per second). Due to the higher data rate, it saw widespread adoption. Additionally, it also offered support for MU-MIMO (multi-user multiple-input and multiple-output) and supplementary broadcast channels at the 5GHz frequency band. But, since it operates in the 5 GHz band, its range remained comparatively less. 802.11ac standard was later labeled as Wi-Fi 5.
The 802.11ax, released in 2019, is the newest and most advanced WiFi standard. It offers a maximum data rate of 10 Gbps. 802.11ax offers better coverage and speed since it operates on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. 802.11ax, also called Wi-Fi 6, can amplify the throughput in high-density environments, gives higher efficiency by providing a signal packed with more data, and makes Wi-Fi faster by providing a wider channel.
In an earlier blog post, we covered Wi-Fi 6 and its extension 6E in greater detail. You can read it here: Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E: All Your Questions Answered.
Here is a table showing a comparison of the data rates of different WiFi standards.
Wireless network encryption is the process of encoding data transmitted over wireless networks. In the simplest form, encryption is the process of scrambling data signals transmitted between devices to prevent unauthorized devices from intercepting the data. In wireless networks, the process of encryption includes various tools, techniques, and standards to ensure that the data transmitted over the WiFi connection are unreadable when in transit. Network encryption is generally implemented on the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
A common example of wireless encryption uses authentication protocols. It secures network communications by requiring a password or network key when a device tries to connect to the secured network.
WiFi networks are usually less secure than wired networks. Therefore, it is critical to choose the right security protocols that offer the best security for your network. WiFi security protocols use encryption technology to secure the network and data. The following are the most commonly used Wi-Fi security protocols:
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), established in 1999, is the oldest and most common WiFi security protocol. It sets technical standards for providing a WLAN with a level of security that is compatible with a wired local area network (LAN). The primary goal of WEP was to prevent hackers from snooping on wireless data in transit between clients and access points (AP).
From the beginning, WEP was plagued with security flaws. It uses the RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4) stream cipher for authentication and encryption that combines a pre-shared encryption key with a 24-bit initialization vector. The small size of the initialization vector made the cipher easier to crack, especially as computing power increased exponentially over the years.
Weak encryption, security flaws, and problematic authentication mechanisms make WEP highly vulnerable. As a result, it was officially retired in 2004 and is not recommended for use anymore.
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) was released in 2003 to replace WEP. The WAP security protocol addressed the weak encryption of its predecessor by using a 256-bit key for encryption. It also uses the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to dynamically generate a new key for each packet of data. This makes WPA much more secure than WEP, which used fixed-key encryption.
To encourage quick and easy adoption of WAP, the WiFi Alliance designed it to be backward-compatible with WEP. So WAP could be implemented onto WEP-enabled systems after a simple firmware update. But this meant that WPA still relied on some vulnerable elements of WEP. So the security provided by WPA still fell short.
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) is the successor to WPA and was designed to improve the security of WiFi networks. One of the key improvements of WPA2 over its predecessor was the use of the Advanced Encryption System (AES), which provides stronger encryption compared to the more vulnerable TKIP system. WPA2 also allowed devices to seamlessly roam from one access point to another on the same WiFi network without having to re-authenticate.
WPA2 uses Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP) to protect data confidentiality. It does so by allowing only authorized network users to receive data, and it uses encryption to ensure message integrity. This makes WPA2 much more secure than its predecessors.
While WPA2 networks are mostly secure, they can be vulnerable to dictionary attacks if weak passcodes are used. A simple mitigation strategy against such attacks is the use of long passwords composed of uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters, and numbers. Such long passwords are extremely difficult to exploit in the real world and secure your WiFi network from dictionary attacks and other brute force attacks.
Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) is the latest and most secure WiFi security protocol. It was released by the WiFi Alliance in 2018 and as of July 2020, all WiFi-certified devices are required to support WPA3.
WPA3 requires the use of Protected Management Frames, which augments privacy protections by protecting against eavesdropping and forging. Other security improvements include standardized use of the 128-bit cryptographic suite and disallowing the use of obsolete security protocols.
WPA3 automatically encrypts the communication between each device and access point using a new unique key, making connecting to public Wi-Fi networks a whole lot safer. Additionally, WPA3 got rid of open-ended communication between access points and devices and eliminated the reuse of encryption keys. WPA3 also introduced a new protocol, WiFi Easy, that simplifies the process of onboarding IoT devices.
All of these security features make WPA3 the most secure wireless protocol available today.
Conclusion
Since the introduction of WiFi technology in 1999, multiple WiFi Standards have been released. The interoperability and backward compatibility of these standards was meant to facilitate the adoption of the newer standards but have led to the lingering use of legacy standards. While using older WiFi equipment on newer networks is technically possible, it is not recommended.
Old network equipment does not allow the newer devices as well as the network as a whole to function to their full potential. But more importantly, they are a security liability due to their use of legacy WiFi security standards. The security standards on older WiFi equipment are not able to withstand the brute force attacks of modern computers that have exponentially higher computing power than their predecessors.
This introduction to WiFi networking standards and encryption types should help you evaluate your own network security so that you can effectively plan the network upgrade requirements for your organization.
Is your WiFi network secure? Is it designed to effectively handle your performance requirements? Reach out to us by clicking the button below and our network experts will help create a robust, efficient, and secure WiFi network that meets all your business needs.
If you liked the blog, please share it with your friends