IEEE 802.11 & Wi-Fi Encryption

IEEE 802.11

802.11: The original WLAN standard
802.11a: Up to 54 Mbit/s on 5 GHz
802.11b: 5.5 Mbit/s and 11 Mbit/s on 2.4 GHz
802.11g: Up to 54 Mbit/s on 2.4 GHz, backwards compatible with 802.11b
802.11h: Regulatory requirement to limit power and transmission in the 5GHz band
802.11i: Provides enhanced security
802.11n: Provides higher throughput with Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO), aka Wi-Fi 4
802.11ac: Very High Throughput < 6 GHz, aka Wi-Fi 5
802.11ad: Multi-Gigabit in the 60GHz band, known as WiGig
802.11ax: High Efficiency (HE) Wireless LAN, aka Wi-Fi 6

Wi-Fi Encryption

WEP => RC4
WPA => Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)
WPA 2 => Counter Mode with CBC-MAC (CCMP)

WEP

WEP => RC4

WPA

WPA => Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)

WPA encryption comes in two flavors:
- WPA Personal: Makes use of pre-shared key authentication (WPA-PSK), a passphrase shared by all peers of the network.
- WPA Enterprise: Uses 802.1X and a Radius server for Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA).

WPA2

WPA 2 => Counter Mode with CBC-MAC (CCMP)