Which of the following keys is derived from a preshared key and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)?

The correct answer is D. Pairwise Master Key. Pairwise Master Key (PMK) sits at the top of the WPA/WPA2 key hierarchy and is the only key that can be derived from either a preshared key (PSK) or through an EAP authentication exchange - making D the correct answer. The PTK (A) is wrong because it is derived from the PMK durin

Infrastructure Security

Question

Options

APairwise Transient Key
BGroup Temporal Key
CPrivate Key
DPairwise Master Key

How the community answered

(57 responses)

A
4% (2)
C
2% (1)
D
95% (54)

Explanation

Pairwise Master Key (PMK) sits at the top of the WPA/WPA2 key hierarchy and is the only key that can be derived from either a preshared key (PSK) or through an EAP authentication exchange - making D the correct answer. The PTK (A) is wrong because it is derived from the PMK during the 4-way handshake, not from a PSK or EAP directly. The GTK (B) is also derived downstream from the PMK and is used for multicast/broadcast encryption, not sourced from PSK or EAP. The Private Key (C) belongs to asymmetric cryptography (RSA/ECC) and has no role in the WPA key hierarchy at all.

Memory tip: Think "PMK = the Master starting point" - everything else (PTK, GTK) flows down from it. PSK and EAP are the two inputs that feed up into the PMK, so PMK is the only key that touches both.

Topics

#EAP#PMK#802.1X#Wireless Security

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