Comparison of Wireless Lan (Wlan) Security Protocols Vulnerabilities

Abstract

Nowadays, due to the rapid proliferation of mobile devices, wireless local area network (WLAN) has been deployed in almost every possible sector of networking.WLAN provides wireless network communication over short distances using radio signals compared to the traditional LAN network cabling. It provides many advantages which include enabling access to computing resources for devices that are not physically connected to network (Rumale and Chaudhari, 2011). However, WLAN also is coupled with new security threats and alters the organization’s overall information security risk profile. In order to secure the WLANs, there are currently three main security protocols available to WLAN communication: Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and 802.11i (WPA2) standards. However, there still exist some levels of vulnerabilities among these protocols. In this paper, an in depth analysis of these protocols was presented. The security vulnerabilities that exist in them were analyzed and explained. This would be a guideline in terms of choosing the right and best possible security protocol and measures to be implemented to secure WLANs established in homes and business enterprises.