XP Update Skimps WiFi Security Compliance

Thanks mr_skrilla. The confusion over Wi-Fi security certification and interoperability has moved into a new gear, with Microsoft shipping a Windows XP update that is not fully compliant with the latest wireless security specification.

Microsoft Corp.'s update, released earlier this month, promised support for WPA2, aka Wi-Fi Protected Access 2, the newest wireless security specification approved by the IEEE.

However, security researchers quickly discovered that the update fell well short of full WPA2 compliance, a situation that adds to the confusing state of the WLAN (wireless LAN) market.

At the center of the latest hubbub is the Wi-Fi Alliance, the nonprofit group that handles the certification of WLAN gear. Back in April, the Alliance announced the addition of four EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) types to the WPA and WPA2 enterprise certification programs.

The new EAP types, all nonproprietary, are considered significant additions because of the way they fit into the 802.1x framework to support a range of diverse authentication mechanisms.

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