In 802.11i PSK mode, the initial key is generated from a passphrase.

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Multiple Choice

In 802.11i PSK mode, the initial key is generated from a passphrase.

Explanation:
In WPA/WPA2-PSK, the user-provided passphrase is not used directly as the encryption key. Instead, it is processed through a key-derivation function (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA1) with the network’s SSID used as the salt and 4096 iterations to produce the Pairwise Master Key (PMK). This PMK is the initial key material that the 4-way handshake uses to derive the actual session keys that encrypt data. Because the PMK comes from the passphrase, the statement that the initial key is generated from a passphrase is true. The SSID acting as the salt also means the same passphrase on different networks yields different PMKs. In contrast, enterprise mode doesn’t derive keys from a passphrase in this way, so this behavior is specific to PSK mode.

In WPA/WPA2-PSK, the user-provided passphrase is not used directly as the encryption key. Instead, it is processed through a key-derivation function (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA1) with the network’s SSID used as the salt and 4096 iterations to produce the Pairwise Master Key (PMK). This PMK is the initial key material that the 4-way handshake uses to derive the actual session keys that encrypt data. Because the PMK comes from the passphrase, the statement that the initial key is generated from a passphrase is true. The SSID acting as the salt also means the same passphrase on different networks yields different PMKs. In contrast, enterprise mode doesn’t derive keys from a passphrase in this way, so this behavior is specific to PSK mode.

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