In the subject ‘Advanced wireless communications and mobility’, students analyse the main advanced wireless communicacion systems such as 4G, GSM and IEEE 802.16. In this post we are going to talk about most commonly used authentication methods in the standard 802.1X.
5 may 2016
Security continues to be one of the greatest concerns of companies using wireless networks. If we had previously spoken about the most frequent attacks againstGSM/GPRS/UMTS, now we are going to talk about some key points of authentication 802.1X, the alternative to Wi-Fi protected access (WPA y WPA2) Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP).
The 802.1X standard is a IEEEsecurity solution used to identify users connected to other wired or wireless network through an authentication server. This standard offers improvements in:
- Security;
- Implementation;
- Authentication;
- Dynamic keys management;
- Centralised account creation.
The 802.1X is based in EAP protocol (Extensible Authentication Protocol), which allows to choose between several authentication methods, such as EAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-MS-CHAP v2 and PEAP.
EAP
Protocol that can be used both wired and wireless networks. It enables open conversation between customers and EAP servers about authentication requests. EAP uses arbitrary authentication methods such as certificates, smart cards or credentials.
EAP-TLS
Variant of EAP protocol in Transport Level Security (TLS) which substitutes the Secure Scoket Layer or SSL. It allows mutual authentication, encryption method negotiation and encrypted keys determination between customers and the authentication server. Its main advantage is that it offers authentication methods and more secure key determination.
PEAP
Authentication method that uses TLS to improve the security in other protocols. This process consists mainly in two stages: server authentication and TLS encryption channel creation; and EAP conversion, user and customer authentication. Its main advantages are:
- Encryption channel to protect EAP methods executed in PEAT;
- Dynamic keys material generated from TLS;
- Fast reconnection;
- Server authentication.
Besides, PEAP is suitable with other wireless authentication methods EAP-TLS, EAP -MS-CHAP v2, and other non-Microsoft EAP authentication methods.
Master's Degree in Telecommunications Engineering offers a training in the main wireless networks and their security systems. In the subject Advanced wireless communications and mobility students analyse the basic principles governing the functioning of advanced wireless communicacion systems. Theoretical notions are complemented by algorithm design and are illustrated by practical examples, in contrast to commercial systems current state such as GSM, UMTS, IEEE 802.16 WiMAX, IEEE 802.11 WiFi and LTE. Given by professor Carmen Botella Mascarell during Master’s Degree first course consisting of 5 ECTS credits.
More information: http://es.ccm.net/contents/785-802-1x-eap
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