Analysis of secure fast roaming techniques with coexistence of 802.1x

Abstract

802.11i defines the Robust Security Network Association (RSNA) establishment procedure to provide strong mutual authentications and generate fresh Transient keys (TKs) for the data confidentiality protocols. 802.11i RSNA establishment procedure consists of 802.1X, which provides high security by using dynamic Authentication and Key Management. It introduces latency due to the addition of extra messages thereby increasing the roam time. Long delays during roaming will affect the applications like Voice over IP over Wireless Local Area Network (VoWLAN) and streaming video and further will have serious impact on seamless handovers in wireless LANs. To overcome this issue, key caching techniques such as Cisco's Centralized Key Management (CCKM) and Opportunistic Key Caching (OKC) are introduced. Further with these techniques, roam time taken by the wireless clients can also be reduced.