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Wi-Fi inches towards security standard

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CIOL Bureau
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The Institute of Electrical and

Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standards board is expected to come out with

decision on whether the current version of the 802.11i specification is reliable

enough to become an industry standard. According to Brian Matthews, publicity

chairman of the IEEE 802.11 working group and vice president of AbsoluteValue

Systems, the current draft has already been through a review committee and

details have been worked out.






Wi-Fi products establish WLANs that allow devices to connect to one another,
transmitting and receiving data within a range of 150 feet. With the 802.11i

specification inching towards becoming an industry standard, there will lot of

action happening at the wireless networking front and the businesses wanting to

adopt it. Some of the earlier security measures, such as Wired Equivalent

Privacy (WEP), were prone to hacking, leaving many security-conscious IT

managers wary of wireless networking gear.

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The final 802.11i specification

ensures that the data sent along those networks is encrypted and can't be broken

by anyone who may intercept it.

The wireless networking

industry has been looking for ways to ease those concerns and patch up the

reputation of its equipment. A superior form of encryption, dubbed WPA (Wi-Fi

Protected Access), has basically replaced WEP, although it still doesn't meet

the stringent standards needed for the transmission of sensitive government

data. An interim security specification, WPA was developed and made available in

early 2003, and companies began work on an industry standard, 802.11i. 802.11i's

encryption protocols are based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

While business sales lagged in

2002, the wireless networking market was buoyed by consumers, who took advantage

of cut-rate prices. A year later, companies slowly began buying wireless

networking gear again.

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Many of the new features in

802.11i are already being used in Wi-Fi equipment, which has helped business

sales. The most significant feature is Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), a

strong encryption standard supporting 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit keys, said

Robin Ritch, Intel's director of security industry marketing.

Enterprises with newer wireless networking

equipment should be able to download the new standard once it is ratified.

However, IT managers with older products might need to upgrade their equipment

to handle the extra processing requirements of 802.11i, the Wi-Fi Alliance said

earlier this year.

The Wi-Fi Alliance plans to certify products for

802.11i starting in September.

Later this year, the IEEE plans to begin the

final approval process for the 802.11e standard for wireless video and audio.

This is expected to help improve the quality of service of wireless media

networks. The Wi-Fi Alliance had expected the standard to be approved by the end

of this year, in time for the holiday shopping season, but sources indicated

Wednesday that the 802.11e approval process should carry over well into next

year.

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