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44 A111 Wireless Card Adaptor
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 - Glossary
Glossary
WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)
This is a group of computers and other devices connected wirelessly in a
small area. A wireless network is referred to as LAN or WLAN.
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an improved security system for 802.11. It is
part of the 802.11i draft security standard. WPA encompasses TKIP (Temporal
Key Integrity Protocol) along with MIC (Message Integrity Check) and other
fixes to WEP such as Weak IV (Initialization Vector) filtering and Random IV
generation. TKIP uses 802.1x to deploy and change temporary keys as
opposed to static WEP keys once used in the past. It is a significant
improvement over WEP. WPA is part of a complete security solution. WPA also
requires authentication servers in enterprise security solutions.
Requirements
(1) A WPA compatible Access Point or Wireless router, (2) Operating system updates
that support WPA. In XP, an updated Windows Zero Config service is needed. Users
can download the Windows XP WPA patch here:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=009D8425-CE2B-47A4-ABEC-
274845DC9E91&displaylang=en
Please note that this patch requires the installation Windows XP Service Pack 1, which
is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/default.asp
For earlier Windows Operating systems, a WPA capable supplicant is required such
as Funk Software’s Odyssey Client.