[Mac_crypto] WPA retrofitted to older Airport clients

[Arnold G. Reinhold]

Buried in the release notes for Airport 3.3 is the news that Apple 
now supports the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security layer even on 
client computers that have the older Airport card. When WPA was 
introduced with OS-X 10.3 (Panther), it was only supported on the 
newer Airport Extreme (802.11g) cards.

I think this is an important story. Individuals and organizations 
that are using Airport typically have older Apple laptops that can't 
accept Airport Extreme cards.  Replacing them would be a huge 
expense, making wide  adoption impractical.

Now users only have to upgrade to Panther and replace any older 
Airport base stations they have with Airport Extreme or comparable 
third-party units.  That is a minor expense to get the real security 
WPA offers. Also, the upgraded base stations will allow newer laptops 
to operate at higher Airport Extreme speeds.

The security layer previously available for wireless users, WEP, was 
a botched design that was easily broken. Wireless security was an 
oxymoron. WPA is far superior.  Now all Apple users can enjoy secure 
wireless  with very little effort.  PC users have WPA available too, 
but each laptop wireless card has to be vetted.

I have updated information on my Airport and Wi-Fi security page:
http://world.std.com/~reinhold/airport.html

Arnold Reinhold
diceware.com