ABSTRACT
Wireless local area network (WLAN) technology gained its
popularity after 1999 through the 802.11b standardization
efforts of the IEEE and Wi-Fi Alliance, but 802.11b is
definitely not a lone protocol within the 802.11 family.
802.11a and 802.11g followed quickly as speed enhance-
ments, while others such as 802.11d, f, h, m, n, k, and i are
addressing other issues in 802.11-based networks. For infor-
mation security practitioners, it is impor-tant to understand
the differences between them as well as to know the ones
that have relevant security implications for wireless data
communications. Short descriptions and meanings of
802.11 protocols are outlined in Table 1, and more detailed
descriptions on most of them can be obtained from the
previous version of the Information Security Management
Handbook as well as the IEEE web site under the 802.11
standards. It is also important to understand that although
802.11b, a, and g were developed at different times and
describe different frequencies, numbers of channels, and
speeds of communication, they initially all together suffered
from the same security exposures.
