Connectivity and Data Protection
This means that Open System authentication is a null authentication.
The identification of the station is not really checked. See Figure 3.2 to
view the Open System authentication process.
FIGURE 3.2
Two-Step Open System Authentication Process
Shared Key Authentication
Shared Key authentication is an optional mechanism that involves a
more rigorous exchange of frames and attempts to determine whether
the requesting station is authentic. Stations authenticate through shared
knowledge of a secret 802.11 wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key.
FIGURE 3.3
Four-step Shared Key Authentication Process
