Changing of standard for wireless networks

The WFA trade group is announcing withdrawal of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) algorithm and TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) protocol from IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard.

The role of WFA group is to test Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity) devices for their conformity with the IEEE standards. It issues the certificate “Wi-Fi certified” for devices which pass the test to ensure that devices from different vendors can co-operate. Problem in WEP standard is that its encryption method can be cracked in less than a minute. The attack method has been refined by Japanese researchers so it now works with any implementation.The WFA plans to disallow using of TKIP protocol for new access points (APs) from January 2011., and in all Wi-Fi devices from 2012. Also, from 2013., access points (APs) will no longer be allowed to offer WEP, and a year later the standard will be disallowed in all Wi-Fi devices. In addition, the WPA2-Mixed mode, in which access points are allowed to offer TKIP for secondary encryption, will be removed in 2014., and only WPA2-AES is to be permissible from then on. Original news was published at web site H-online.