802.11i: Its time is coming

It looks as if this summer the IEEE will finally approve the standards for 802.11i. That's the wireless security standard that is based on RSN, which uses AES (the protocol formerly known as Rinjdael) and a 128 bit encryption key to provide better security. WPA, another new wireless security standard adopted by the Wi-Fi Alliance, can be implemented by upgrading the client software for many current wireless devices. Deploying RSN is a bit more complicated, since it will require hardware devices with significantly more processing power.

It's been a long time coming, but we look forward to the demise of WEP - with its well-documented security flaws - and new, more secure technologies to replace it. Wireless security has to be a number one priority as wireless networking becomes more and more popular, and thus, securing wireless transmissions becomes more and more of a problem.

Next month, I'll have an article on Windowsecurity.com about 802.11i, how WPA2 and RSN work, and what it all means for existing wi-fi networks.