If you are planning to migrate your Wi-Fi 6/6e wireless network to a Wi-Fi 7 wireless network, security is one of the critical aspect you need to consider.
Let us understand the WPA3 requirements in Wi-Fi 7-
- WPA3 is mandatory for all Wi-Fi 7 devices in order to support MLO and 802.11 be data rates.
- Enhanced Open (OWE) with GCMP236 as cipher for open networks requiring encryption with passwords.
- WPA3-Personal (SAE) with GCMP256 as cipher and SAE-EXT-KEY or FT -SAE-EXT-KEY as AKMs.
- WPA3-Enterprise with AES (GCMP256) and 802.1x-SHA256.
- Protection Management Frames (PMF) are mandetory.
- Beacon Protection is mandetory.
The evolution of Security standards across Wi-Fi generations-
| Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 6e | Wi-Fi 7 |
| Open (OWE support reqd) | Enhanced Open AKM-(OWE) Cipher-(CCMP128) | Enhanced Open AKM-(OWE) Cipher- (GCMP256) |
| WPA2/WPA3-Transition/WPA3-Personal PMF Optional WPA2 AKM-(PSK, FT+PSK) WPA3 AKM- (SAE, FT+SAE ) Cipher- (CCMP128 or AES) | WPA3 Personal PMF Mandetory AKM-(SAE, FT+SAE) Cipher- (CCMP128 and AES) | WPA3 Personal PMF Mandetory AKM-(SAE-EXT-KEY, FT-SAE-EXT-KEY) Cipher-(GCMP256) |
| WPA2/WPA3 Transition/WPA3 dot1x (enterprise) PMF optional AKM- (802.1x, FT+802.1x, 802.1x SHA256) Cipher-(AES, CCMP128, GCMP128, GCMP 256) | WPA3 Enterprise PMF Mandetory PMF optional AKM- (802.1x, FT+802.1x, 802.1x SHA256) Cipher- (CCMP128, GCMP128, GCMP 256) | WPA3 Enterprise PMF Mandetory PMF optional AKM- (802.1x, FT+802.1x, 802.1x SHA256) Cipher- (GCMP 256) |
Related Blogs for Wi-Fi 7–
EHT Beacon Frame (6 GHz 320 MHz cw)
6 GHz band- Does it really improve my Wi-Fi experience?
Wi-Fi 7 MLO and WPA3-Enterprise
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