Question

Which of the following approaches to wireless LAN (WLAN) security requires a matching string of characters to be configured on a WLAN client and a WLAN access point (AP)?

a) WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
b) WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
c) 802.1X
d) PSK (Pre-Shared Key)

Answer 1

The wireless LAN security method that uses a pre-configured matching string of characters on both the WLAN client and AP is PSK (Pre-Shared Key). While both WEP and WPA use keys, PSK is specific to the concept of sharing a key in advance.

Step-by-step explanation:

The approach to wireless LAN (WLAN) security that requires a matching string of characters to be configured on both the WLAN client and the WLAN access point (AP) is PSK (Pre-Shared Key). This is a security method used to authenticate and validate users on a wireless network. Both WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) and WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) also utilize keys, but the term 'Pre-Shared Key' specifically refers to a security key that is shared and configured in advance on all devices that need to connect securely to the WLAN.

WEP is an older security protocol that also uses a shared key, but due to its vulnerabilities, it has largely been superseded by more secure methods such as WPA and WPA2, which both can use PSK but may also implement 802.1X for enterprise-level security requiring a server for authentication.