The master's thesis deals with the issue of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) from the viewpoint of the security and functional principle of security mechanisms. The transition to the issue concerning the security is accompanied by the methods of wireless data transmission operating on the level of physical layer (FHSS, DSSS, OFDM, MIMO), which is followed by the summary of individual 802.11 standards. The next part deals with the issue of shared transmission medium (CSMA/CA), influence of interference and correcting mechanisms (RTS/CTS). Within the security, the principles of the authentication along with the commonly used methods of security (WEP, WPA, WPA2) are described in detail. The first part concerning security deals with the security in the form of the WEP protocol, which is considered insufficient nowadays and points out the imperfect implementation and the consequent risks. The following part describes the security in the form of WPA which eliminates the implementation weaknesses of the previous WEP security protocol. The description of commonly used mechanisms of authentication (PSK, 802.1x), required temporary key management (PTK, GTK), data integrity (MIC) and encryption which uses TKIP protocol are also included. The last part, possible WLAN security, is aimed at the full support of 802.11i standard, which is called WPA2 (sometimes RSN). That part describes the basic encryption security element CCMP, which is based on the AES block cipher modes. The practical part of the thesis deals with the security verification of current wireless networks. In the process of verification the accessible HW means and programming tools of Open Source Software (OSS) are used. By means of verification it has been pointed out that there are possible security risks resulting from the security method which has been used. Also several recommendations how to reduce the security risks of the used method to minimum are mentioned.

Thesis (doctoral) - Humboldt Universität, Berlin, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [107]-113) and index. Also issued online.