New Support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2

A free update for Windows XP adds support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA 2), the Wi-Fi Alliance’s term for the new 802.11i security protocol for 802.11b and g wireless LANs. WPA 2 support will aid organizations that want the highest available level of wireless security or need to comply with tight security standards, such as the U.S. government’s FIPS 140-2 requirement.

WPA 2 is an update to the WPA protocol, which was introduced in early 2003 while the 802.11i standard was being finalized as a transitional fix for security flaws discovered in the older Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption protocol. WPA 2 adds support for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) required as part of 802.11i, replacing the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) introduced in WPA. WPA 2 also reduces network delays that occur when users roam from one Wi-Fi access point to another.

To use Windows XP’s new AES support, organizations must have newer Wi-Fi wireless LAN access points and wireless network adapters that comply with the mandatory elements of the 802.11i security standard. (Some older equipment that supports the faster 54Mb/sec 802.11g Wi-Fi standard may be software- or firmware-upgradeable to comply with 802.11i.) However, because WPA 2 is backward compatible with the earlier WPA protocol, users who install the Windows XP WPA 2 update will still be able to communicate with older Wi-Fi equipment that supports only WPA or even WEP.