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312-50V11 · Question #360

When setting up a wireless network, an administrator enters a pre-shared key for security. Which of the following is true?

The correct answer is A. The key entered is a symmetric key used to encrypt the wireless data.. A wireless pre-shared key in WPA/WPA2 Personal mode is a symmetric key, meaning the same secret value is used by both the access point and clients to encrypt wireless data.

Hacking Wireless Networks

Question

When setting up a wireless network, an administrator enters a pre-shared key for security. Which of the following is true?

Options

  • AThe key entered is a symmetric key used to encrypt the wireless data.
  • BThe key entered is a hash that is used to prove the integrity of the wireless data.
  • CThe key entered is based on the Diffie-Hellman method.
  • DThe key is an RSA key used to encrypt the wireless data.

How the community answered

(38 responses)
  • A
    89% (34)
  • B
    3% (1)
  • C
    3% (1)
  • D
    5% (2)

Why each option

A wireless pre-shared key in WPA/WPA2 Personal mode is a symmetric key, meaning the same secret value is used by both the access point and clients to encrypt wireless data.

AThe key entered is a symmetric key used to encrypt the wireless data.Correct

In WPA/WPA2 Personal (and WPA3-SAE), the pre-shared key is a symmetric secret - the same value is configured on both the access point and every connecting client. This PSK is fed into a four-way handshake key derivation process to produce the Pairwise Transient Key (PTK), which is the actual symmetric key used to encrypt data transmitted over the wireless link.

BThe key entered is a hash that is used to prove the integrity of the wireless data.

The PSK is not a hash used for integrity checking - it is a secret input to a key derivation function that produces the encryption keys for the wireless session.

CThe key entered is based on the Diffie-Hellman method.

The PSK is a static, pre-configured symmetric secret and is not itself a Diffie-Hellman value - while WPA3-SAE uses a DH-based exchange internally, the PSK as entered by the administrator is a symmetric shared secret.

DThe key is an RSA key used to encrypt the wireless data.

RSA is an asymmetric algorithm; wireless PSK-based security relies entirely on symmetric key cryptography, not RSA.

Concept tested: WPA pre-shared key as symmetric wireless encryption key

Source: https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/security

Topics

#pre-shared key#WPA#symmetric encryption#wireless security

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