802.1x Authentication Standard
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IEEE 802.1x is an authentication standard that uses a three-party authentication process between a supplicant, authenticator, and authentication server. The authenticator requests authentication from the supplicant and then passes this on to the authentication server to verify the supplicant's identity, allowing access to the network if authentication is successful. It provides strong authentication for network access but can be difficult to deploy with some compatibility and security issues.
802.1x Authentication Standard
- 1. IEEE 802.1x Authentication Standard:
- 2. Terms: Supplicant - The User or Client to be authenticated Radius Server – The Server doing the authentication Authenticator – The device between the Supplicant & the Radius Server EAPOL – (Extensible Authentication Protocol Over LANs)
- 3. How it Works: The Authenticator sends an EAP request packet to the Supplicant. The Supplicant sends an EAP packet to the Authenticator. The Authenticator sends a packet to the Radius Server. The Radius Server challenges the Authenticator with a token or password.
- 4. How it Works: continued… The Authenticator changes it from the IP to EAPOL. The Supplicant responds to the challenge and passes it to the Authentication Server. If there’s a successful challenge, then the Authentication Server responds with a success message allowing access to the LAN.
- 5. Example:
- 6. Key Aspects: Supplicant = End station software Authenticator = Wired switch or SSID AuthenticationServer = Ensures certificate or passwords are correct
- 7. Benefits: IEEE Standard 98% of all switches support 802.1x Good authentication ‘Pre-connect’ enforcement of access policies
- 8. Drawbacks: Incompatibilities with certain switches Some security issues Tough to deploy Does not have a ‘post-connect’