802.11 Specification

The remainder of this chapter is devoted to understanding the technical components of the 802.11 protocol, as they relate to Layer 2 (data link). Therefore, the following concepts apply across the board to all Layer 1 (physical) 802.11 definitions. From a security perspective, it is always important to understand how things work “under the hood.” For example, when you are reviewing frames from a sniffer capture, you will be able to understand what is happening in the protocol handshaking and various conversations. These concepts represent building blocks that will be necessary later when you are architecting your wireless environment for security.

As you review the details of 802.11, you will notice that many of these concepts are shared with 802.3 wired Ethernet. However, many are unique to 802.11 wireless.