What standard did the 802.11 Working Group create to extend 802.1X operation to WLANs with security for EAP?

• A. 802.11i
• B. 802.1i
• C. 802.1Xi
• D. None of the above

Answer: (A)

802.11i is the standard that extends 802.1X to wireless LANs by defining a Robust Security Network (RSN) that supports EAP-based authentication over the wireless medium. It specifies how the authenticator (the access point) and the supplicant perform 802.1X authentication (often using EAP over LAN), and then securely derive and distribute keys for encryption. It introduces strong encryption with AES-CCMP (and TKIP as a transitional option) and the four-way handshake to create per-session keys (PTK and GTK) for protecting data frames. This combination provides secure authentication and data protection for WLANs, which is why it’s the correct standard. The other options do not correspond to a valid WLAN security standard name.