Wi-Fi Alliance Announces Standards-Based Security Solution to Replace WEP

Wi-Fi Protected Access Provides Strong, Standards-Based Security and Works With Existing Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wireless LAN Products

Mountain View, CA, October 31, 2002 — The Wi-Fi Alliance announced today a security solution based on an IEEE standards effort called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) to replace the existing WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). This solution is designed to work in the products on the market today and is expected to first appear in Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products during the first quarter of 2003. Most vendors are expected to offer firmware and software updates for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products currently in use.

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“Enterprises, small businesses and home users need a stronger standards-based security solution than WEP and they need it now,” said Wi-Fi Alliance chairman Dennis Eaton. “The Wi-Fi Alliance worked with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Standards Working Group for Wireless Local Area Networks to deliver a robust wireless LAN security solution meeting the immediate needs of the marketplace. This approach allows the industry to bring a strong, standards-based security solution to the market today while giving the IEEE 802.11 Task Group I the time to complete and finalize the full 802.11i Robust Security Network amendment to the existing wireless LAN standard. Security is, and will continue to be, the highest priority for the Wi-Fi Alliance and for the industry,” continued Eaton.

“The bar for security is always rising and the development of robust security solutions take time,” commented Stuart J. Kerry, Chairman of the IEEE 802.11Standards Working Group for Wireless Local Area Networks. “WPA will meet the needs of both manufacturers and customers for the foreseeable future and the IEEE will also continue its work on the full 802.11i amendment which is expected to be completed mid next year. This will be the next step in the evolution of standards-based solutions for IEEE 802.11 networks,” continued Kerry.

See Wi-Fi at COMDEX Wi-Fi wireless LANs will be on display at COMDEX (Booth 3160), November 18-22 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About the Wi-Fi Alliance
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit organization formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of IEEE 802.11 products and to promote them as the global, wireless LAN standard across all market segments. The Wi-Fi Alliance has instituted a test suite that defines how member products are tested to certify that they are interoperable with other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products. These tests are conducted at an independent laboratory. Membership in the Wi-Fi Alliance is open to all companies that support the 802.11 family of standards. Wi-Fi Alliance now comprises over 170 members that offer over 450 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products from the world’s leading companies. For more information, please visit www.wi-fi.org .