PDF of this tutorialBecause they broadcast data on the open airways, wireless networks present unique challenges for authentication mechanisms not encountered on wired networks. This tutorial explores how wireless networks are different from wired networks with regard to authentication and presents the requirements that an authentication method must meet in order to be appropriate for wireless networks. It then considers several families of authentication methods that have been designed specifically around the needs of wireless networks – the public key certificate-based methods, the password methods, and the strong password methods. One particular strong password method, known as SPEKE for Simple Password-authenticated Exponential Key Exchange, is examined in some detail. The tutorial concludes with a table comparing the properties of these authentication methods to each other and to earlier legacy methods.
