Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

EAPoL: Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN

EAP over LAN (EAPOL), defined in the IEEE 802.1X, offers an effective framework for authenticating and controlling user traffic to a protected network, as well as dynamically varying encryption keys. EAPOL is a standard for passing Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over a wired or wireless LAN. In the wireless environment, 802.1X also describes a way for the access point and the wireless user to share and change encryption keys, and adds some messages which help smooth operations over wireless. The key change messages help solve the major security vulnerability in 802.11, the management of WEP keys. With 802.1X, WEP is brought up to an acceptable level of security for most companies.

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EAPoL: Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN